Megaman Battle NetworkGS Style
by EchoKazul
Summary: A Megaman Battle Network parody! By the author that brought you Robin HoodGS Style! Poor Isaac's not too happy about being stuck in a computer!
1. Echo gets an Idea Take 2

*Echo Kazul doesn't own Golden Sun or Megaman Battle Network*  
  
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It was between the scenes of Robin HoodGS Style, and the entire GS crew was lounging around in Echo's living room. Echo herself was huddled in a corner, muttering as she played her Gameboy SP.  
  
Ivan watched Echo play, bored. "Sooo, what are we doing again?"  
  
Mia was snuggled up to Isaac on the couch watching TV. She answered without even looking up. "Echo's done twelve chapters of Robin Hood already. That's ten legends, figuring in the fact that the first chapter was just roll call and that one chapter had little to do with Robin Hood and more to do with Mars Adepts and their reactions to Super Soakers."  
  
Isaac, stroking her aqua hair and looking content, was also watching TV. He finished her sentence for her. "In other words, she's starting to run out of legends of Robin Hood to use, lucky for us. I overheard her saying something about there only being about two or three chapters left."  
  
Garet was off in a corner playing checkers with Picard. He looked at the board and groaned. "Aww, man! That's the third time in a row you took my queen!"  
  
Picard sighed. "Garet, checkers doesn't have queens! That's chess!"  
  
Garet looked slightly confused. "Really? I always thought that was checkers!"  
  
Akafubu was sitting under the card table they're playing on, rocking back and forth, the feather on the huge turban he always wore brushing against the top. "No!" he whimpered. "She can't have Writer's Block, preciousss! She hasn't given the precious to us, stupid authoress's!"  
  
Picard groaned and kicked him. "Oh, knock it off, will ya? We're trying to play checkers up here! I'm sure Echo will figure out a part for you someday!"  
  
Akafubu merely whimpered.  
  
Sheba sat next to Ivan, also looking bored. "So, when the Writer Block hits, she turns to her Gameboy? How effective could that be?"  
  
Isaac shruged from his position on the couch, his eyes still glued to the screen. "Hey, as long as she's not bugging me about following script and making me trek through the depths of Sherwood in obscure costumes, I'm happy!"  
  
All of a sudden, Echo stopped playing her Gameboy and stared at the screen. An audible 'doink' could be heard as a lightbulb appeared over her head, causing every adept in the room to freeze and whip around to stare at her. Ivan was uneasy. "That 'doink' noise is *never* a good sound!"  
  
Echo leapt to her feet, staring at her gameboy excitedly. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it before?!"  
  
Jenna winced. "Okay, that definitely isn't good!"  
  
Isaac whimpered. "I think I'll go hide upstairs in the closet for a while!"  
  
Mia suddenly grinned and leaned in, looking seductive. "Want me to go hide with you?"  
  
Isaac's whole face lit up "Sure!"  
  
Ivan turned slightly green. "Oy. I think I'm going to be sick!"  
  
Echo ignored the lovebirds, turning the SP screen to them and looking proud. "Megaman Battle Network!"  
  
Garet looked confused. "Huh?"  
  
Sheba saw a more immediate problem. She growled indignantly. "Hey! You're not playing Golden Sun!"  
  
Picard frowned at her warningly. "Echo...do we have to bring Kraden in here to explain why Golden Sun is the best game again?"  
  
Echo suddenly lost a little enthusiasm and shuddered. "No! I know Golden Sun is the best game ever made! But I can play other games as well! And I'm playing on of my second favorites, Megaman Battle Network!"  
  
"Long name!" Mia said dryly.  
  
Ivan thought about that for a moment, confused. "Wait, one of you second favorites? How can you have more then one?"  
  
Isaac rolled his eyes. "Ivan, this is Echo we're talking about!" he stated, as if that explained everything.  
  
Echo ignored him. "Anyways, what do you guys think of doing a parody of this game?!" She looked around expectantly.  
  
There was a brief moment of silence, then a sudden stampede towards the door. Soon, all left in the room was Echo and Akafubu.  
  
Akafubu looked rather eager about the idea. "Ooh! Me! Me! I wanna! I wanna!" Echo glared at him and said rather sourly, "Oh, be quiet!" She got out her laptop, opened it, typed in a few words, then hit enter. All the Adepts suddenly appeared in midair, then fell, landing in a heap in the middle of the living room floor.  
  
Isaac gave a dirty look as he scrambled to his feet. "I wish she wouldn't do that!"  
  
Felix sat up and rubbed his head. "Ow!"  
  
Mia looked surprised. "Hey, look everyone! Felix is here for the beginning of this one!"  
  
Felix glanced around, confused. He had an oven mitt on one hand. "Hey, what's going on? One minute I'm at home, baking cookies, the next..."  
  
Echo looked cheerful. "We're doing another parody!"  
  
Felix paused for a moment, then edged toward the door.  
  
Jenna sighed. "We already tried that, bro. Doesn't work! She just zaps us back with her author powers..."  
  
Echo was ignoring them, already typing some more on her keyboard. "Just give me a bit to rent the proper scenery from the Author's Warehouse, and we're on our way!"  
  
Isaac watched her from his seat on the floor, folding his arms and scowling. "Let me guess, Megaman Battle Network. I'm someone named Megaman, the main character again, aren't I?"  
  
Echo nodded, still typing. "Yup! But he's not exactly the most main character. He's more in a partnership for main character with Lan."  
  
Mia looked surprised. "Who?"  
  
Echo was still glued to the laptop screen. "You know, Lan, an elementary school boy. Megaman's his Navi."  
  
At the mention of 'Navi', all the Adepts, especially Ivan, shuddered. "Please don't mention the word Navi around me! I'm trying to forget what horrors Midnight C put me through!" Ivan groaned. Sheba patted him reassuringly on the back.  
  
Echo glanced up, confused "Huh?" She realized what they were talking about. "Oh, no, it's not Navi the fairy from Zelda, it's short for Net Navigator, a big part of the game!" She went back to her typing. "By the way, Ivan, you're Lan."  
  
Ivan looked shocked and nervous. "What?!"  
  
Echo nodded, her fingers still clicking on the keyboard. "Already got most of the parts figured out! Ivan's Lan, Isaac's Megaman, Mia's going to be the Navi Roll, Sheba's Mayl, Fiezhi's going to be Yai, and Picard's going to be her Navi, Glyde, Jenna is going to be Dex, and Garet is going to be her Navi, Gutsman."  
  
Garet raised an eyebrow "Gutsman?"  
  
Echo shrugged "Well, that's what he's called!"  
  
Mia looked skeptical. "Umm, Roll? What kind of name is that? Are any of these name at least somewhat normal?"  
  
Jenna also looked suspicious. "Dex, that sounds like a guy's name!"  
  
Echo suddenly stopped typing and looked uncomfortable. "Well, Dex is a guy, someone in Lan's class. He starts out as a bully, but ends up pretty nice. I needed somebody, and you were available...plus you get to work with Garet!"  
  
Jenna didn't look very convinced. "I suppose..."  
  
Echo still looked slightly uncomfortable. "Just...don't ask what he looks like..." she quickly changed subject, trying to sound perky. "Okay! Got the scenes reserved from the Author Warehouse, we'll start tomorrow!"  
  
Echo's behavior just made Jenna all the more suspicious. "Wait!" she demanded. "What did you mean by..."  
  
Echo interrupted her, quickly standing up and grabbing her laptop and Gameboy. "Okay, me and the scrunchy are off to my computer to write scripts!" She said overly-cheerfully, acting as if she didn't even hear Jenna.  
  
Ivan stopped her. "Wait! We don't know anything about this game!"  
  
Echo shrugged as she edged out. "It's pretty much self-explanatory, really! We'll get everything sorted out tomorrow." She quickly walked out into the next room  
  
Jenna narrowed her eyes. "Okaay, that was a little suspicious! I want to see what Dex looks like, now!"  
  
Garet shrugged. "Can't. She took her Gameboy with here!"  
  
Jenna glowered. "I *am* going to find out!"  
  
Picard was musing over his new roll. "Glyde? Makes me sound like a kite! And I'm with Fiezhi?!"  
  
Fiezhi pouted. "Okay, this just isn't fair! Not only am I not with Isaac, my name sounds like the misspell of a slash fic!"  
  
Akafubu was back to his place under the card table, hissing to himself. "Not fair?! My preciousss is denied me once again, and the stupid purple- head says her preciousss is not fair?!" He glared at everybody that got a part.  
  
Ivan noticed and backed slowly away. "Oookay. That guy's really getting scary!"  
  
Isaac looked thoughtful. "I'm a Net Navigator, huh? I wonder what that means?"  
  
Garet shrugged again. "Maybe you help Ivan with the maps? Made out of nets?"  
  
"Oh, yeah! Why didn't I think of that?!" Isaac said sarcastically. He stretched back out on the couch and searched for the remote."Okay, I'm going to enjoy my last day off and am not even going to *think* about parodies!" He glanced around, then grinned. "Hey, Mia! Do you still want to go hide in the upstairs closet together?"  
  
Mia giggled and hugged him. "Of course, Isaac-chan!"  
  
Ivan groaned and turned green again. "Okay, now I *know* I'm going to be sick!"  
  
Sheba grinned slyly and snuggled up to him."Does this help?" she purred  
  
Ivan looked surprised, then thought about it, finally grinning. "Yup! I do believe it's helping!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------  
  
Early the next morning, the sun peeked through a window, revealing Ivan slumbering peacefully in a bed. He was in a typical elementary-student's bedroom, with a bookshelf full of books, the occasion toy strewn about, and a soccer-ball near the bed  
  
Suddenly Lady Layana's voice was hear bellowing up the steps. She had a surprisingly loud voice. "Ivaaan! Time to wake up! You'll be late for school!"  
  
Ivan merely snuggled deeper into the pillow, unaware of what was going on.  
  
Lady Layana tried again, her voice booming up the stairway. "Come on, Ivan! Now!"  
  
Ivan turned over. "Mffph..."  
  
Suddenly, a blood-curdling yell from the dresser area caused him to sit up in shock. It was Isaac, and he first sounded surprised, then furious. "WHAT?! WHERE?!GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! ECHOOOO!"  
  
Ivan glanced around in confusion, half asleep and dressed in flannel PJ's. "What? Who?" he stuttered.  
  
Isaac's voice still continued to rant. "Echo, you baka author! Where am I?!"  
  
Ivan looked around sleepily. "Isaac? Is that you? Where are you?" He rubbed his eyes and looked around, seeming to notice for the first time he wasn't home. "Hey, where am I?"  
  
Isaac's voice was still coming from dresser area, furious. "Forget about where you are! Figure out where I am!"  
  
Ivan trod over to the dresser obediently, grumbling. "Now, is that any way to ask for help? Demanding in such a rude voice." He glanced around. "Isaac? You in here?"  
  
Isaac's voice sounded grumpy. "Yes! I'm right here, you half-wit!"  
  
Ivan frowned. "Now, I wouldn't start insulting me if I were in your predicament!" He started going through the dresser drawers. "What, did Echo shrink you or something? I don't see you!"  
  
Isaac's voice still echoed around the area. "No! I'm right here, midget boy! Boy, when I get my hands on Echo, she's gonna meet a really nasty Grand Gaia!"  
  
Ivan glanced on top of the dresser and spotted an electronic screen with a handle and a keyboard. He picked it up to see Isaac on the video screen. "Isaac!" he stated happily. "Found you!"  
  
Isaac didn't look as happy to see him. He was still dressed in his normal clothing, but being stuck inside a mini-computer didn't seem to appeal to him much."Look at me! I'm like a...a tomegotchi or something! One of those stupid electronic pets!" Ivan watched as the digital image paced around onscreen like an angry screensaver. "Echo is soo going to pay for this!"  
  
At that moment, the beloved author warped in. "Hi guys!" She said cheerfully. "Enjoying the parody so far?"  
  
"ECHO!" Isaac's voice boomed from the device in Ivan's hands. "Grand Gaia!" The digitalized sound of an explosion was heard, and Isaac yelped. "OW! Dangit! It doesn't work!"  
  
Echo nodded. "Yup! The digital world and the real world are quite different! You, dear Isaac, are in the digital world, and Ivan and I are in the real world. It's that way in the game too, although, really, I'm not in there. You know. Just Lan is."  
  
Ivan looked confused. "Okay, Echo? I still don't get what's going on!"  
  
Echo sighed. "Alright, I'll give an explanation. Now, where is that handbook?" She digs around in her pocket for a moment, then comes up with the Megaman Battle Network instruction manual and clears her voice. "Okay, I'll read the intro to you...'In 20xx... ...the rapid advance of Internet technology has created the "network age." Everyone now carries a portable exploration device called "PET." This personal terminal is an advanced personal digital assistant. Using it, you can make phone calls, send and receive emails, keep a calendar, store data, shop online and check news from around the world. PET is so convenient and helpful that it has become essential for everyday life!  
  
Every PET uses a personality simulation program called Net Navi(gator). By customizing your PET's Navi program, you can give your Net Navi a unique personality - and even talk to it!  
  
But as the network world expands, network crime is raging. Hacking and computer virus epidemics have become major issues. At the top of the criminal list is a mysterious organization called "WWW" (World Three), a group of incorrigible computer hooligans.  
  
To protect their PETs, people have begun installing Battle Chips - special chips encoded with battle programs. When you insert a Battle Chip, you can arm your PET to fight off viruses and hackers. This is called "virus busting" and has become so important that it is now taught in schools.  
  
Lan is a fifth grade student. His Net Navi (and best friend) is Mega Man.EXE. Lan and Mega Man.EXE are both extremely skilled computer operators.  
  
In the world of virus busting, Lan and Mega Man.EXE are about to meet their match...'  
  
...and that explains most of it!" Echo finished up.  
  
Ivan looked at the small computer in his hand with fascination. "So, this little computer thing is called a PET?"  
  
Echo nodded. "Yup!"  
  
Ivan continued. "And Isaac is a computer program created to help me use the PET and protect it from viruses?"  
  
Echo nodded again. "Right again!"  
  
Isaac frowned visibly from the screen. "Shaddup!"  
  
Ivan grinned sadistically. "Ooh! Seems my 'Navi' needs a new personality program! He's cranky!"  
  
Echo shook her head. "Now, now! No tampering with Isaac's data! Mia would be unhappy!" She turned and pointed to a regular-looking computer sitting on a desk by Lan's bookshelf. "You can use your PET to send Isaac into the internet as well. A very crucial part of the game!"  
  
Ivan grinned. "I think I'm going to have fun with this!"  
  
Isaac grumbled.  
  
Echo grinned sweetly. "Oh, and there's one more thing, Ivan."  
  
Ivan looked up. "What's that?"  
  
Echo looked innocent. "You're late for school!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
And there we go! First chapter done! *grins evilly* Oh, and yes that is the actual text I quoted from the instruction booklet of the first Megaman Battle Network game. I figured, what better way to describe it then their very words! I think they did it well enough. So for those of you picky enough for it, I DID NOT MAKE UP THE LITTLE INTRO THINGY IN THE INSTRUCTION BOOKLET THINGY!  
  
Anyway, I'll have a chapter of *something* up soon, be it this or another one of my fics. 


	2. A Day of Learning

And on to chapter two...! And the reviews!  
  
Leah Black- Well, I would seriously recommend both games. Especially Golden Sun!^_^ Both, very, very good!  
  
Kevin C- You know, you're the second person to ask me where Felix is! He comes in later. Don't worry, I'm nice to him in this fic! ^_^  
  
Pureauthor- Ha! Bet your version of this would have been quite interesting! ^_^ Yours always is! Don't worry, there's going to be Windshipping! (Obviously)  
  
Yoshimi- Yeah, like I said, I'm running out of Robin Hood! Still, ten legends is pretty good. Plus at least two more. When I get them written! ^_^  
  
Scheree- Hey-o! ^_^ I like that expression! Anyways, yup! Expect quick updates for the first couple of chapters! Then I'll continue alternating between fics again.  
  
MercuryAdept- Ack! Another person who hasn't played Megaman Battle Network! Don't worry, my Beta (my brother) hasn't played it either, and I'm trying to write it so that even if you haven't played it, it makes sense. If you have a question about anything, just ask it in your review and I'll try and answer it in the next chapter!  
  
And...*EchoKazul don't own Golden Sun or Megaman Battle Network. She does, however, know proper grammar. She just chose not to use it in that particular disclaimer.*  
  
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Ivan looked confused. "What do you mean, 'Late for school'? I don't go to school!  
  
Echo looked smug. "In this game you do, and you were supposed to meet Sheba ten minutes ago to walk together."  
  
"I was supposed to meet Sheba?!" Ivan looked horrified. "Oh, thunder! Isaac, you're my Navi! Why didn't you tell me?!"  
  
Isaac sulked on screen. "I was too busy adjusting to being a computer program! Must've slipped my mind!"  
  
Echo grinned and pointed to your dresser. "As I'm such a nice author, I'm letting everyone wear their normal clothing. Be thankful, Isaac. A skin tight blue suit and helmet don't seem to suit you much. You'll find your clothing in the dresser Ivan." She grinned. "I'm sure you don't want to meet Sheba in your PJ's!" With that, she typed a bit in her laptop and disappeared.  
  
"Doesn't look like she's going to stay around for the entire thing this time!" Isaac observed as Ivan changed in record time. He couldn't find his boots anywhere, so finally he grabbed a pair of tennis shoes that were lying by the bed and pulled them on. "These look so dorky!" he grumbled. Then he grabbed his PET and flew out the bedroom door. He made it all the way to the top of the steps when he noticed something. His new shoes had wheels on them.  
  
"Wo-oah!" He yelped as he tried to stop unsuccessfully. "No! Ow! Eep! Ouch! Er! Erk! Owie!" Finally he reached the bottom of the steps. His PET flew out if his hand and spun to a stop on the polished wooden floor.  
  
"Nice going, Jupiter Boy!" Isaac said annoyed, slightly muffled as he was screen down on the floor. "Now do you mind picking me up so I see something more then the wood grain of the floor?"  
  
Ivan sat up and glared at the PET. "Yeah, I'm fine!" he said sarcastically. "Thanks for the concern!"  
  
Echo suddenly teleported in, looking a bit sheepish. "Oops! Sorry! Forgot to warn you!" She offered a hand and helped Ivan up. "Lan's shoes can change from ordinary tennis shoes to inline skates. See, you push that button and they change!"  
  
"Gee, that would've been nice to know!" Ivan said sarcastically.  
  
"Hey, I said sorry!" Echo protested. She explained. "Instead of running in this game, Lan just skates. Much faster and less exhausting then running!"  
  
"Hello! Navi down here!" Isaac reminded them.  
  
She showed Ivan how to operate his new tennis shoes/inline skates, then disappeared again.  
  
Ivan grumbled as he made doubly sure his shoes were in 'tennis shoe' mode, then picked up Isaac and rushed towards the door.  
  
"Just wait, Ivan!" Lady Layana stopped him. She had been bustling around the kitchen in a frilly pink apron. "Don't you want breakfast?"  
  
Ivan stopped and stared. "Lady Layana?!" he said incrediously.  
  
"Yeah, it's me!" she smiled. "Master Hammet is up in the lab. He's a famous researcher, you know!"  
  
"Just think of it as Echo's weird tampering with the world as we know it and move on." Isaac advised. Ivan nodded.  
  
"Sorry! No time for breakfast!" he told her. "Late for meeting Sheba!" He quickly burst out the door to find Sheba waiting impatiently for him.  
  
"There you are!" she exclaimed. "Mia and I have been waiting for you! You're late!" "Sorry!" Ivan apologized. "Both Isaac and I had a little trouble adjusting to our new parts."  
  
"Yeah, Mia was pretty ticked off as well!" Sheba agreed.  
  
"Mia?! Where's Mia?!" Isaac demanded from the PET in Ivan's hand. Sheba held up her own PET to show Mia on the screen. She didn't look all that thrilled.  
  
"Isaac, what say we do something horrible to Echo once we get out!" she said with gritted teeth.  
  
"Agreed." Isaac nodded.  
  
Sheba nodded. "I think we're all with you there, you two!" She looked up the street. "Well, we better get to school! Otherwise we'll be late!" She started walking up the street towards a large brick building. After a moment, Ivan ran to catch up and walked beside her.  
  
"This world is really weird!" Sheba complained to Ivan. "They don't use normal fireplaces like we do for cooking! They use something called a 'gas stove', and they seem to be in an uproar because lately they keep catching on fire!"  
  
Ivan looked confused. "Well, of course stoves have fire in them! How else would they cook food?"  
  
Sheba giggled. "Do you remember Garet and Jenna's cooking lesson?"  
  
Ivan groaned. "I was trying to forget that, thank you very much!"  
  
Mia giggled from her PET. "I remember it took Picard and me hours to put out that fire!"  
  
Ivan glanced up at the brick building as they arrived. "So, this is what they call a school. Why do I get the combined feeling that I'm small and insignificant, and that my life is now doomed?"  
  
"Well, the small part is right!" Isaac snickered.  
  
Ivan glared at the PET in his hand, then grinned and stuck it in his backpack.  
  
"Hey!" Isaac protested, his voice muffled. "Let me out of here! I can't see! Your stupid notebooks keep hitting the PET! Ivan! I'm sorry about the short joke, okay! Now let me out!"  
  
"Come on, Ivan! Let him out!" Mia protested.  
  
"In a bit!" Ivan said, obviously enjoying Isaac's muffled protests. "I think this could be fun!"  
  
Ivan and Sheba quickly hurried through the school doors and into the classroom just as the bell rang. There were generic-looking students roaming all over the room.  
  
"Made it!" Ivan said happily! "The teacher doesn't seem to be here." Sheba observed. Her face light up. "Hey, there's Fiezhi and Jenna!"  
  
The two girls walked up to them. "Hey-lo!" Jenna said cheerfully.  
  
"Let me guess, Picard and Garet are now in their navi form." Ivan ventured.  
  
"Yup!" Jenna said, holding up her PET to show a very unhappy Garet on the screen. Picard, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying it.  
  
"Hey guys, watch what I can do!" He stated happily. "Douse!" Suddenly half the screen was filled with a watery animation, complete with waves and little bubbles. Picard flipped back and did a back float. "It's like I can make my own swimming pool at any time!"  
  
"I said to quit that!" Fiezhi growled, shaking the PET to make the screen look like a flat waterglobe. It seemed that although the shaking didn't affect Picard at all, it caused the water simulation to splash all over, totally soaking the Mercury Adept, although he didn't seem to mind.  
  
"Hey, where's Isaac?" Garet asked.  
  
"Oh, he's in my backpack!" Ivan said, waving one hand carefreely. "He made a joke about my size."  
  
"Ah!" That was all that needed to be said. It was well known how sensitive Jupiter Adepts were about their size.  
  
Suddenly the door opened, and one of the generic-students yelped out, "The teacher's coming! Everybody to their seats!"  
  
Everybody scrambled to their desks as the teacher stepped in. "Good morning class!" She said pleasantly.  
  
"Echo?!" the Adepts all exclaimed.  
  
"Echo? Where? Where is she?" Isaac's muffled voice could be heard demanding from the backpack.  
  
"That's Miss Kazul, please!" Echo said, pursing her lips. "And Ivan, will you kindly remove your navi from your backpack?"  
  
Ivan grumbled, but did as he was told. "Finally!" Isaac exclaimed. "It was getting stuffy in there!"  
  
Fiezhi looked curious. "How could it get stuffy? You're a navi, remember? You're just a computer program!" Isaac tried to glare at her, but couldn't be seen due to the fact he was on a tiny video screen. "I am *not* just a computer program!"  
  
"Class!" Echo said warningly. She began to shuffle through papers. "Okay, we will begin this lesson by jacking in our PETs into the computer desks you have in front of you and we will review virus busting."  
  
"Okay, let's see if we can figure this out." Ivan muttered. He pulled a cord out from the side of his PET, and after a bit of searching found a plug in on his desk. "Well, gots to be this one, I think."  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Isaac said nervously. "I've never transmitted online before! What if I leave some of my data behind?"  
  
"Aw, quite whining!" Ivan grumbled. He plugged his PET in. "Alright, what did Echo say to say?" He thought for a moment, then grinned. "That's right! Isaac.EXE transmit!"  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
The moment Ivan uttered those words, Isaac felt a strange sensation. Not that being trapped in a small digitalized room looking out onto the real world *wasn't* a strange sensation in itself. It's just this one was stranger. It was like being sucked into a tiny cable and rushed along at high speeds.  
  
He suddenly re-materialized in what looked like an exact copy of the classroom, only digitalized. "I am sooo going to kill Echo!" He muttered, checking himself over to make sure he was still all in one piece.  
  
"Isaac-chan!" Mia squealed and tackled him.  
  
"Mia!" he yelped, pleasantly surprised. He glanced around. Garet and a soaking wet and happy Picard were also there, as well as several generic- looking Navi's.  
  
"Turns out the Net is like a whole different world for Navi's." Picard commented, glancing around.  
  
Garet looked relieved. "So I don't have to be stuck in that stupid little PET all the time? Good!"  
  
"Attention, student Navi's. Will you please return to your designated seats?" the teacher's Navi asked.  
  
Isaac looked up and his jaw dropped. "Th-that's Echo's Navi?!" he asked incredeously.  
  
Picard sighed. "I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not."  
  
The Navi behind the digital desk was a giant blue scrunchy. The Adepts quickly went to the seats that coordinated with their partner's in the real world. After all, you didn't want to mess with the Blue Scrunchy!  
  
"Isaac, you there?" Somehow Isaac could still see Ivan through the PET. He sighed. This was getting complicated. "Yeah, I'm here, and you will never believe what Echo's Navi is!"  
  
Ivan nodded. "I can see it on the PET screen! And I don't believe it!" He looked curious. "What's it like in there, anyways?"  
  
"Very, um, computery." Isaac said.  
  
"All right class, we'll begin with the training simulation now!" Miss Kazul said. She pressed a few buttons on her desk, and all of a sudden Isaac found himself warped someplace else again.  
  
"Alright, I'm officially getting sick of this!" He growled. He looked around to find himself standing on what seemed to be a tiled floor floating in the middle of nowhere. His side was a square divided into nine red tiles, and the opposite end was divided into nine blue tiles. With two little creatures that looked like hard hats with eyes and feet.  
  
"Okaaay." Isaac said, drawing the Sol Blade. These were probably enemies.  
  
Miss Kazul's voice spoke up. "Okay, there are a few rules in battling here. You must stay on the red side, and the enemy will stay on the blue side."  
  
"Simply enough!" Ivan commented.  
  
"You're not the one fighting!" Isaac said dryly. "Of course it'd seem simple to you!"  
  
"Students, each of you have a bag filled with little tiny computer chips." Miss Kazul stated.  
  
Ivan looked to find a pouch on his belt filled with them. "Yup! Got them!" he stated.  
  
Miss Kazul nodded. "Good. You plug these into your PET, and the information will be sent to your Navi, allowing them to use whatever was in the chip you sent. They vary from swords to guns, to healing, to stealing some of the enemies squares so you have more room to move around in. In this way, the operator depends on the Navi to delete the virus, and the Navi depends on the operator to send them chips so they don't get deleted themselves. A partnership, you might say."  
  
Ivan nodded. "Alright, Isaac, I'll send you this one!" He plugged in a Cannon chip.  
  
Isaac stared at the heavy-looking gun that suddenly materialized in front of him. "What in Gaia's name? You actually expect me to use that thing!"  
  
Ivan shrugged. "Well, if you want to be deleted by the two viruses in front of you..."  
  
Isaac snorted. "I'll just do this! Quake Sphere!" The tiles around the two Mettools began to rumble, and suddenly there was a massive earthquake. The Mettools gave a squeak and were instantly deleted.  
  
Ivan sighed. "I don't suppose we're going to use chips that often, are we?"  
  
Isaac sheathed the Sol Blade. "Nope!" He looked thoughtful. "Although those ones that Miss Kazul mentioned that steal enemy squares, those may come in useful. Always like be able to move around, you know."  
  
Ivan sighed. "Alright, who's in charge here, the Navi or the operator?"  
  
The rest of school was pretty boring. Ivan decided that he hated school. Math and History and Spelling. Why did he need to know history?! He wasn't in Weyard! There was no practical use for the history of...he checked the town's name again...ACDC town!  
  
Finally the final bell rang, and Miss Kazul dismissed the class. Ivan, Sheba, Fiezhi, and Jenna gathered at the back of the classroom. Jenna had 'borrowed' the class yearbook and was trying to find a picture of Dex. Fiezhi kept talking about the mansion she was living in. Apparently, Yai was a very rich little girl. Ivan and Sheba had a nice chat, but it was constantly interrupted by Isaac and Mia, who wanted their PETs to be moved closer together.  
  
Finally Isaac told Ivan that he got an e-mail, which turned out to be from Lady Layana, who was very P.O.'d that Ivan wasn't home yet. So they decided to maybe get together on the Net later, much to Isaac and Mia's joy.  
  
Ivan hurried home. An angry Lady Layana was a scary thing. He burst through the front door, only to find Lady Layana in the kitchen and a strange red- haired guy working on one of the control panels on a wall.  
  
Lady Layana turned to him, grinning in a way that said that Ivan should be very, very glad they had company, or he'd be dating the garbage disposal right now. "Ivan, DEAR!" she said through a gritted smile. "How nice of you to FINALLY get home! I bet you had a WONDERFUL time at school. This nice repairman is fixing our house so that we won't have any of those nasty oven incidents that other homes are having. Why don't you go upstairs and relax, and I'll be up there later to talk about your day!" The look she gave him made him realize it was *not* going to be pretty.  
  
"Hehe! Um, sure!" He nodded to the repairman, then turned and ran upstairs.  
  
"Whew!" Isaac said once they were upstairs. "I never realized Lady Layana could be so terrifying!"  
  
Ivan nodded down at his PET. "You better believe it!" He looked thoughtful. "Wanna jack into the Net and look around?"  
  
"Of course!" Isaac said emphatically. "Anything to get out of this PET!" Ivan sat at the computer and plugged in the PET. "Okay, here we go! Isaac.exe Transmit!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Whee! Fun! And I already have the next two chapters written! I'm just waiting a bit between updates to milk all the reviews I can out of this! And to not neglect my other fics! So I'll try to update this the same time I update another, which, I promise, won't be as long as I've been taking in some of them. And if you could make sense out of that sentence, kudos to you! 


	3. Into the Depths of Lady Layana's Oven

Echo: *humming slightly as she types*  
  
Sheba: *walks into the room, then freezes in horror* Oh, dear Jupiter! No!  
  
Echo: *glances up, confused* What? What's wrong?  
  
Sheba: *looking around, frightened* Beginning of fic...Suddenly back in Script Format...*she looks accusingly at Echo* You're back to doing the author skit, aren't you?!  
  
Echo: *looks around quickly* Shh! Akafubu will hear you!  
  
Sheba: *crosses her arms* Well, I'll tell you this right now, I'm not doing the disclaimer! I don't care if you shoot me with the scrunchy or if you have M&M's. I'm *not* doing it!  
  
Echo: *rolls her eyes* Fine! I'll get somebody else to do it! *She turns in her chair and glances out the doorway, looking for any sign of movement. Finally she sees someone and fires her scrunchy at them* And the scrunchy has chosen again! This time it's....Oh, dear....  
  
Sheba: Okaay! Hey Echo? How are you going to work this one out?  
  
[One of the Water-spewing monsters from the Altin Mines comes trotting in with the scrunchy in its mouth. It deposits it at Echo's feet and glances up, wagging its plumed tail]  
  
Echo: *squeals* Ooh! *starts gushing* Who's a cute widdle monster, huh? Who's da cutest widdle monster-wonster? Da widdle Wiving Statue is! Yes he is, da widdle guy!  
  
Living Statue: *wiggles happily*  
  
Sheba: *rolls her eyes* And yet another example of our author's intellegence!  
  
Echo: *still gushing* Will da widdle monster wait wight dere like a good widdle boy while mommy check her e-mail? Yes, dat's a good boy! *she turns to her e-mails and squeals again* Ooh! Lookit all the reviews! Yayness! I wasn't going to update this soon, but seeing as I got so many, I thought I'd be nice!  
  
Pureauthor- Forte? That's Bass, isn't it? Is he even in the first game here? I know he's in the second, and I'm still working on the third, so I'm not sure if he's in that one or not yet...*goes off and checks through a walkthrough* Huh! Well, whatd'ya know! He is! You get to fight him after you collect all the chips! *thinks* Well, if I put him in here, he'll probably just play himself. You're right, I really don't know who could play him! Oh, and you can have the second game if you want! ^_^ It'll take me a long while to finish this one!  
  
The Faction's Lord- I'll make sure to throw in a few jokes about Ivan taking his PET for a walk! ^_^ Oh, and btw, Isaac isn't a PET. He's a navi. PET stands for PErsonal Terminal, the computer thingy that Isaac's stuck in. A navi is a program designed to make operating the PET easier (think of a version of Windows that actually works and has a personality).  
  
Evil Bob- Ack! I wouldn't dare do something like reprogram Isaac! Do you know how painfully Mia would kill me?!  
  
Bladegryphon- This update soon enough for you? ^_^  
  
Kevin C- Nah, I'm not actually going to turn all of the opponents in MMBN into GS characters. Do you realize how hard that would be?! That's be two characters per opponent, as there has to be an operator and a navi! A few will be given parts, but for the most part, I'm too cruel to put the GS characters through some of the stuff I have planned! (The next chapter is an example!)  
  
BlackDemon567 (x2)- I'm glad you think it's so funny! ^_^ Just wait until later chapters! I've got some fun surprises planned!  
  
Scheree- You know, I often have to say that quote as well! 'I'm not insane, just on a sugar-high!'  
  
Fehize- Glad to see you think it's funny as well!  
  
MercuryAdept- Of *course* Jenna's going to kill me when she finds out what Dex looks like! Why do you think I'm hiding it from her?! And yes, beware the Scrunchy of Doom!  
  
Yoshimi- Well, what else would my navi be? Of course, it's a little hard to imagine, but I figured, hey, if they can have a piece of stone and a tree as navi's, my scrunchy can be one too! Oh, and see my response to TFL regarding PETs, might help things make a little more sense! ^_^  
  
Pureauthor (again)- Because Egad is such an awesome word! And yes, you guessed right! Now I'm just having a little trouble figuring out who's going to play 'Load Chaud' (you know, that phrase always made me think Protoman had an accent!)  
  
Echo: Whew! Think that's all of them! *grins* I'm so *happy*! *turns to the Living Statue* Now it's time for the disclaimer! *coos* Yes it is! Yes, it's time for pookie-wookie to help mommy with the disclaimer!  
  
Sheba: *crosses her arms* And how do you plan to do that?  
  
Echo: Easy! I'll give the paper to my widdle snook'ums here, and you can Mind-read him and tell us what he thinks!  
  
Sheba: *suspiciously* Isn't that like making me do it?  
  
Echo: *shakes her head* Of course not! You didn't get hit by my scrunchy- muse, so you're not the chosen one! Think of it like translating.  
  
Sheba: *still suspicious* Okay, I guess...  
  
Echo: *holds the paper in front of the Living Statue* Okay, snooky, read this...  
  
Sheba: *Mind-reads the Living Statue* Wow, he can actually read! That's a first! An intellectual monster!  
  
Echo: *frowns* Hey, careful! You'll hurt his feelings!  
  
Sheba: *rolls her eyes, but continues* Okay, he's thinking "EchoKazul doesn't own Golden Sun or Megaman Battle Network'. He also says that his name is Bob.  
  
Echo: Ooh! Dat was very goody, Bobby-wobby!  
  
Akafubu: *rushes in* I heard the sound of a disclaimer! Are you doing disclaimers again? Did I miss it? Can I do the next one?  
  
Echo: Bob, sic him!  
  
Akafubu: Ahhhhhh! *runs off with a Living Statue chasing him*  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Isaac felt that weird transporting feeling again, and suddenly found himself inside of Lan's computer...basically just a floor, a soccer wallpaper, and a few little green robot like things walking about.  
  
"Ummm, Ivan?" he asked unsurely. "Are those green things viruses?"  
  
Ivan snorted. "Hmph! Got me! I'm as new to this as you are!"  
  
Isaac shrugged. "Well, let's find out!" He drew his sword and advanced to one of the green robots, pointing the Sol Blade at it. "Friend or Foe?" He demanded.  
  
The little green robot glanced up at him, gave a squeak of absolute mortification, and collapsed groveling at his feet. "Pleeaase! Please don't hurt me Megaman!"  
  
Isaac lowered his sword. "Okay, I'm assuming it's not a virus."  
  
"Look at the poor thing!" Ivan scolded him. "It's scared half to death! You should be ashamed of yourself!"  
  
Isaac glanced down at the green robot still groveling and scooted away. "Well, how was I to know? What is it anyways?"  
  
The little green robot looked hesitantly up. "I'm one of the programs that run Lan's computer! Are you still going to kill me?"  
  
Isaac shook his head. "Nope!"  
  
The program leapt to its, er, feet. "Yay!" it said joyfully, before wandering happily off.  
  
Isaac watched it go. "This place is weird! I almost prefer Sherwood!"  
  
"Soooo..." Ivan said. "Now what?"  
  
Isaac glanced around. "I don't know! Your computer consists of one giant square floor! That's it!"  
  
"Any portals or anything?" Ivan asked.  
  
"Come to think of it, there is a glowing circle on the floor over there. Don't know if it's a portal or not!"  
  
"Well, step on it!" Ivan said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
Isaac glared up at him. "Hey, for all I know, it could be some sort of ritual sacrificial circle for navis!"  
  
"Isaac.." Ivan said warningly. "This is an elementary student's computer, not Akafubu's!"  
  
Isaac walked over to the yellow glowing circle on the floor muttering. "Who know what runs through the minds of elementary students!" He carefully stepped onto the circle, and suddenly felt that increasingly familiar feeling of teleporting.  
  
He suddenly found himself transported to a huge area consisting mainly of walkways and platforms that wound together to make something of a digital maze (A/N Anybody who's played the game knows what I'm talking about!) In the background was a generic-looking wallpaper, and several programs and generic navis could be seem mulling about.  
  
"Okay, think we made it to the net!" Isaac said, glancing about.  
  
Ivan nodded. "Okay, how about we look around then?"  
  
Isaac glared. "Correction, why don't *I* look around, while you sit in your comfy little computer chair!"  
  
"Hey, don't forget who has to do all the leg work in the real world while you stay comfy in you PET!" Ivan retorted.  
  
"Whatever!" Isaac grumbled as he started walking off He didn't get very far before he saw a familiar face. "Picard!" he said happily. "Is Mia here too?" Picard glanced at him over the stack of packages he was carrying. "Isaac!" he said happily. "No, haven't seen Mia, but I could sure use some help!"  
  
Isaac eyed the bundles and papers in Picard's arms. "What is all that?"  
  
Picard tried to shrug, causing one of the packages to slip and fall. Isaac quickly caught it and put it back on the pile. "Thanks." Picard said. "Turns out being rich also means Fiezhi has a lot of responsibilities, which, in turn, means I, being her navi, get to help!"  
  
"Wow, do you really have to deliver all those?" Isaac said sympathetically.  
  
Picard was going to nod, but the slight shifting of a package made him change his mind. "Yeah, but she promised I can turn my PET into a swimming pool all I want after we're done, so it's not too bad. I was wondering if you could do me a favor though?"  
  
"What?" Isaac asked curiously.  
  
"Well," Picard sighed, "One of the programs in Fiezhi's computer snuck out after me when I left and ran off, and now I think it's lost. Could you help me look for it?"  
  
"Sure!" Isaac said cheerfully. "I'm going to be looking around for Mia anyways!"  
  
"Thanks!" Picard said gratefully. He shifted the packages around to free one hand and handed Isaac a datakey. "You can use this to enter Fiezhi's computer."  
  
Isaac took the key. "No problem! Have fun delivering the packages!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah!" Picard sighed, and walked off carefully, trying to balance his towering load.  
  
"Poor guy!" Ivan said sympathetically.  
  
"Yeah, stuck with Fiezhi!" Isaac agreed. He glanced down at the datakey, then pocketed it. "Okay, let's go find Mia and the program!" he said resolutely.  
  
He took two steps forward and was suddenly the world around him warped. "What in Gaia's name?" He asked, confused. He glanced around to find himself on the battlegrid. "Oh, no!" he groaned. "I *hate* random encounters!"  
  
"Nice going, Isaac!" Ivan said dryly. "Way to take a step!"  
  
"Shaddup!" Isaac grumbled. He glanced around to see a single enemy, what looked like a giant mounted gun. "Hey, what's that?"  
  
Ivan glanced at the information on the computer screen. "Um, it's called a cannon."  
  
Isaac rolled his eyes. "Now, why didn't *I* guess that?" Suddenly the cannon swerved toward him and beeped, a little red light flashing.  
  
"Isaac! Duck!" Ivan yelped out.  
  
Isaac threw himself to the floor just as the cannon fired. The bullet whizzed harmlessly overhead. "Why that little...! Ragnarock!"  
  
A giant sword appeared in midair, crashing into the machine and effectively reducing it to a pile of twitching wires.  
  
"There!" Isaac said as he got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Found out something here. Don't get in a cannon's line of fire!"  
  
"Hey!" Ivan suddenly yelped. "We got something called 26 zennys from that thing!"  
  
"Zennys?" Isaac asked, confused.  
  
Ivan shrugged. "Must be their currency here."  
  
"Oh!" Isaac said dryly. "So all I have to do is go around and beat lots of stuff up, and we get rich! What are they teaching kids these days?!"  
  
Suddenly, he was pulled from the battlegrid and warped back to the spot he was standing on in the net. "You know," he said thoughtfully. "I'm almost getting used to being warped all over the place!"  
  
Several Ragnarocks and 152 zennys later, Isaac growled in frustration as he glanced around. "Okay, whoever designed the net obviously had a very cruel and twisted mind! Between the dead ends and cybercubes blocking several roads..."  
  
"Pretty soon you're going to be as lost as that program!" Ivan observed.  
  
"Shaddup!" Isaac growled, rounding another bend. "I don't think I went down this path before!"  
  
"Actually, I think you have..." Ivan said doubtfully.  
  
"No, I haven't!" Isaac argued.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you have!" Ivan said.  
  
"No, I...."  
  
"YAYYY!" a sudden yell interrupted them, and a tiny program flew out and latched itself to Isaac's leg. "You've come to rescue me! Nobody ever comes down this way and I thought I'd have to stay here forever and ever and ever but you came down and saved me and now Miss Yai and Mr. Glyde won't have to worry about me anymore and this is all so wonderful!" The program stopped to inhale, then glanced up at Isaac with cyber puppy eyes. "You will take me back, won't you?"  
  
"Er, yeah." Isaac said uncomfortably, trying to pry the program off. He glared up and stuck out his tongue. "See Ivan, I haven't been down this way yet!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, gloat about it, will ya!" Ivan grumbled.  
  
322 zennys, two Grand Gaia's, a Stone Spire, and several Ragnarocks later, (a few almost directed at the chatty program), Isaac finally found the cybercube that the datakey Picard had given them fit into.  
  
"Finally!" Isaac growled as the cybercube opened up and disappeared, allowing them to pass. The program continued to chat happily behind him. Ahead was another glowing portal on the floor, which Isaac willingly stepped on this time. Anything to get rid of the program!  
  
They were both warped to Fiezhi's computer. "Wow!" Isaac commented as he glanced around. "It's very...purple!"  
  
"Yeah, tell me about it!" Picard walked up to him. "I suggested a little blue, but nooo! Purple!" He glanced down at the little program still chatting to no one in particular. "Oh, I see you found the program." He grinned slightly. "Don't know whether to be thrilled or disappointed."  
  
"Me, I think I'd be disappointed." Isaac said, watching the talkative program. He sighed. "And I didn't find Mia, either!"  
  
Picard shrugged. "Sorry, think she and Sheba had some extra homework or something so they couldn't come on the Net. Something about Mia convincing Sheba that Fiezhi was after Ivan, so Sheba tried a Shine Plasma, which missed and accidently hit Echo instead."  
  
"Oh." Isaac sounded disappointed. "Well, might as well jack out then, Ivan."  
  
Ivan nodded. "Yeah, I think I heard the repairman leave a few minutes ago, so Lady Layana should be up here in a few minutes." He shuddered at the lecture he was soon to receive, then suddenly Isaac found himself back in the PET.  
  
"You know, this is halfway your fault!" Ivan glared at the PET screen.  
  
"Mine?!" Isaac yelped. "What do you mean? I'm stuck inside this stupid computer, remember?!"  
  
"Well, you wanted to stay behind at school and talk to Mia!" Ivan said.  
  
"And you didn't want to talk to Sheba, is that it?" Isaac retorted.  
  
Before Ivan could respond, there was a shriek downstairs. "That was Lady Layana!" Isaac said in alarm. "Quickly, run downstairs and see what's going on!"  
  
Ivan peered down the steps fearfully. "What if it's a trick? What if she's going to jump me the moment my foot hits the bottom step and stuffs me in the doghouse outside the house?!" He noticed the odd look Isaac was giving him from the screen. "What? I wouldn't put it past her!"  
  
"Move it!" Isaac ordered, and Ivan hurried grumbling down the steps. He froze when he got to the bottom step. "Wow!" he commented.  
  
"What, what? I can't see!" Isaac said in frustration. Ivan turned the PET towards the kitchen. "Ack!" Isaac yelped. "Fire!"  
  
Indeed, the oven was spewing out giant flames. Lady Layana was standing on a chair, shrieking. She noticed Ivan. "Ivan! Get over here right now and do something!" She yelled.  
  
"What?!" Ivan yelled back over the commotion. "What would you have me do?! Fan the flames with a little breeze? Mind read it? Smother it out of existence with a few plasma's?"  
  
"Oh, great!" Isaac groaned. "Mia and Picard are stuck in computers too!"  
  
"Any idea where Alex is?" Ivan said hopefully.  
  
"No, and I highly doubt he'd help us even if he was here!" Isaac said forcefully. "He'd probably stand back and laugh, then worry about his hair getting sooty!"  
  
"Well, what should we do then?!" Ivan asked, starting to get annoyed by Lady Layana's screeching. "We can't let the house burn down!"  
  
Suddenly a piece of paper appeared in midair with a 'poink', then slowly drifted down towards Ivan. He snatched it out of the air and read it.  
  
"Well, what's it say?!" Isaac demanded.  
  
Ivan read it out loud. "Dear Ivan, there is a port in the oven that you can jack your PET into. Send Isaac in and find out what's causing the fire. Sincerely, your author, Echo."  
  
"What?!" Isaac protested. "You're going to send me into the *oven*?!"  
  
Ivan edged towards the flaming oven and noticed a jack-in port, thankfully away from the flames. "Hey, it's a cyberworld! How can fire exist in a cyberworld?!"  
  
He plugged the PET in, and suddenly Isaac found himself inside the oven's programming. He glanced around, taking in the winding walkways and the flames. Lots of flames. "No fire in the cyberworld, huh Ivan?" he said sarcastically.  
  
"Wow that's weird!" Ivan commented. "What's it like in there?"  
  
"Hot!" Isaac complained. "Very hot! What say we go find Jenna and have Garet run this one through?"  
  
"Are you kidding?" Ivan asked incredeously. "They'd probably make the fire bigger!"  
  
"Fine, fine!" Isaac grumbled. He began to trot through the oven, trying to find what was causing the explosions while complaining the entire time. "Sure, you're out there, nice and cool, and I'm the one who has to walk through a fiery oven! Literally!"  
  
"Ah, quite whining, Isaac!" Ivan snorted. "The sooner we get through this, the sooner you can get out!"  
  
Isaac eyed one of the giant flames blocking the path to his left. "Well, how am I supposed to find out whatever's responsible for this if most of the paths are blocked here! Let's just jack out, find Mia, and have her use douse!"  
  
"Excuse me?" A small voice by his feet said.  
  
"Augh!" Isaac leapt back. "A virus!"  
  
"No, no!" the small program said in alarm. "I'm not a virus!"  
  
Isaac relaxed. "Sorry. A little jumpy there!"  
  
"Just a little?" Ivan said dryly.  
  
Isaac glared. "Oh, be quiet! You try walking through virus-infected lands!"  
  
The program looked confused for a moment, then shook its head and continued. "Well, I couldn't help but overhear you. You wish to pass these flames?"  
  
Isaac nodded. "Well, yeah! I'm trying to find out who's trying to incinerate Lady Layana's kitchen!"  
  
The program nodded. "Thought so. I have something that may help you. They're called Ice Blocks, and you can use them to douse a flame. Careful, you can only carry seven at a time! If you run out, come back and I'll have a fresh supply for you!" He handed Isaac a bag labeled 'Ice Blocks'  
  
Isaac peered into the bag. "Hey, these are water balloons!"  
  
The program somehow frowned. "No, they are Ice Blocks!"  
  
Isaac pulled one out and examined it, tossing it in his hands a few times. "No, that's definitely a water balloon!"  
  
"Ice Block!"  
  
"Water Balloon!"  
  
"Isaac!" Ivan stopped him. "Just take the stupid little fire extinguishers and get moving!"  
  
"Fine, fine!" Isaac grumbled. "Just wanted to get my point across that they were water balloons!"  
  
"Ice blocks!" the program hissed as he walked past.  
  
"Stupid programs!" Isaac muttered.  
  
He headed north, grumbling about the heat, programs, and water balloons.  
  
"See anything yet?" Ivan asked him worriedly. "The fire's getting bigger!"  
  
"No, I..." Suddenly, a large explosion interrupted Isaac, causing him to yelp in pain and throwing him to the floor.  
  
"ISAAC!" Ivan yelped out. "Isaac, answer me!"  
  
There was silence.  
  
"Oh, great!" Ivan muttered worriedly. "Come on Isaac, if this is a joke, it's not funny!"  
  
Suddenly his PET began to ring and he jumped back, yelping in surprise. "Ahh! My PET! It's possessed!"  
  
A deep voice spoke out from the PET. "MWHAHAHA!"  
  
"Oh, no!" Ivan whimpered. "Now it's letting out evil laughter! It's like that one horror movie where the doll came to life, only now it's my computer! I'm doomed!"  
  
"What?!" the voice asked, clearly confused. "What are you talking about?! This is a phone call! I'm calling you! You're PET isn't possessed! Sheesh!"  
  
Ivan looked relieved. "Oh! Good! I was really worried there!" He glanced at the PET in interest. "Isaac? Is that you? You know, that explosion really must've knocked some data loose or something, 'cause you sound really different!"  
  
"No!" The voice said exasperated. "Geez! My nemesis here is an idiot!"  
  
"I am not!" Ivan said indignantly. "And if you're not Isaac, then what happened to him?!"  
  
The voice gave out an evil chuckle. "Your navi went BOOM!"  
  
"No!" Ivan said in horror. "Mia's going to kill me!" He looked panicked for a moment. "Who are you anyways?"  
  
The voice laughed. "Who do you think I am?"  
  
Ivan thought for a moment. "Well, I'd say Karst, as she's always trying to kill Isaac, but your voice is too deep for that!" He suddenly looked at the PET pityingly. "You really have no idea what you just did, do you? Karst is going to be furious because you killed Isaac and she wanted to, and Mia's going to be mad because you killed Isaac, and he was her boyfriend. You have two pissed off women on your tail now!"  
  
The voice sighed. "Stick to the plot, would you kid? I'm the repairman, the REPAIRMAN!"  
  
Ivan looked confused. "The repairman?"  
  
"YES!"  
  
Ivan stared for a few minutes, then spoke. "Dude, you really need to find a new job then or something, cause you totally stink at this one! Our oven started on fire just minutes after you fixed it!"  
  
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then the voice spoke up. "You know, this pretty much takes all the fun out of this, you know? Thanks a lot!"  
  
Ivan looked confused. "I don't get it!"  
  
The repairman sighed "Geez, do I have to spell everything out for you?!" The voice spoke slowly and clearly, "I rigged the fire. I work for the evil organization WWW. I blew up all the other ovens. I'm going to have to rub you out the same way I took out your navi!" The voice sighed. "What's the use? Okay, I'm going to go find an asprin."  
  
The voice suddenly hung up, and the oven exploded into even bigger flames.  
  
"Eeeeek!" Lady Layana leapt to another chair further away from the flames.  
  
"Isaac!" Ivan yelled in horror.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ooh! A scary cliffy in a humor fic! However did I manage that? ^_^ For anyone who hasn't played the game, no I didn't make that part up! Megaman really did get caught in an explosion, Lan did lose contact with him, and the evil repairman did call, although Lan was a bit quicker. And Lan's mom did go 'Eek!'. A lot. 


	4. Attack of the Bad Puns

Echo and Sheba: *Both sitting back on lawn furniture, watching Bob the Living Statue chasing a screaming Akafubu while sipping little drinks with umbrellas (non-alcoholic, of course)*  
  
Sheba: *raising her sunglasses slightly to look at Echo* You know, this really isn't all that bad!"  
  
Echo: *takes a sip and nods*  
  
Akafubu: *waving his arms while trying to hold onto his hat* Ahhhhhhhhh!  
  
Bob: *hops after him, obviously enjoying the chase*  
  
Akafubu: *running wildly in the other direction* Ahhhhhhhhh!  
  
Sheba and Echo: *sip their drinks*  
  
Akafubu: *dashing across the lawn* Ahhhhhhh!  
  
Master Poi: *walks out of the house and glares at them* Do you mind?! All this noise makes it difficult for my students to meditate!  
  
Echo: *glances at him over sunglasses* Master Poi! And you are from which temple again?  
  
Master Poi: *sighs* Kandorean Temple. Why can't anybody remember that?!  
  
Echo: Ah. *thinks for a moment* And that...  
  
Master Poi: *interrupts her, annoyed* ...is the temple where you get Lash! *starts grumbling* Sheesh! I give them the temple's prized treasure, and nobody remembers who we are!  
  
Akafubu: *almost loses his hat, but catches it without slowing down* Ahhhhhhhhh!  
  
Bob:Garrruu  
  
Sheba: Garu?  
  
Echo: *nods* The battle cry of the Living Statues, meant to strike fear in the hearts of all!  
  
Master Poi: *tapping his foot impatiently* Excuse me! Noise level!  
  
Echo: *sighs* Stay right there for a moment. *aims carefully, and shoots him in the forehead with the Scrunchy*  
  
Master Poi: *rubs forehead* Hey! What was that for?  
  
Echo: *shrugs* You were starting to get annoying, and I didn't want another Akafubu on my hands. I was hoping that it would knock some sense into you!  
  
Master Poi: *indignant* I am *not* another Akafubu! I just want a little peace and quiet!  
  
Echo: *rolls her eyes* Then why am I getting a sinking feeling in my gut?  
  
Akafubu: *waving his arms wildly* Ahhhhhhhhhhh!  
  
Bob: Garuuuu!  
  
Sheba: *taking a sip of her drink* Wow! Look at them go!  
  
Echo: *sighs* Okay. *points to Master Poi* You! Stay! I'm going to check my e-mails!  
  
Master Poi: *rolls his eyes, but stays*  
  
Echo: *happily* Lots of reviews! Yayness! This keeps up, and I'll be updating this one a lot!  
  
The Faction Lord- Eep! But it's so fun to write cliffies! One of those things you love to write, but hate to read! Must be harder for you, as you haven't played the game! ^_^  
  
Scheree- Here's another update for ya!  
  
Bladegryphon- Well, what would you perfer, being stuck in a mini-computer, or roaming around Sherwood. Sherwood is the lesser of two evils!  
  
Pureauthor- Nope! It's not Kraden, but close!  
  
MercuryAdept- Mwahahaha! The evil cliffy! Doncha just love 'em?! ^_^  
  
Yoshimi- Wilhelmina, did you let him get into the sugar?! And yes, expect many more unexpected surprises! ...Wait...if you're expecting them, then they're not unexpected...but if they're unexpected, there's no way you can expect them...Great. I just confused myself!  
  
Black Demon567- They're not Ice Blocks! They're water balloons! I mean, if they're ice, how did they survive in the flaming hot oven?  
  
Sheba: *glancing over the reviews* You know Echo, sometimes you take things too seriously...or not seriously enough. I can't decide!  
  
Echo: *cheerfully* Yeah, I hear that a lot!  
  
Akafubu: *trips, but scrambles up quickly* Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!  
  
Echo: *turns to Master Poi* Read this! *hands him the paper*  
  
Master Poi: *Takes paper* Why?  
  
Echo: *sighs* How many times do I need to explain this? The Scrunchy chose you! You are destined to read the disclaimer!  
  
Akafubu: Nooooooo! *tries to run towards them, but Bob leaps in front of him with an evil, happy look* Ahhhhhhhhh! *runs off*  
  
Echo: *nods, grinning* I like Bob!  
  
Master Poi: *shrugs and reads* EchoKazul doesn't own Golden Sun or Megaman Battle Network. *glances up* There! Now can we get some peace and quiet?  
  
Echo: *stands up* Ah, why not? *hollers to Bob* Hey Bob! What say we take him into the book 'Gulliver's Travels' and watch the Lilliputian's tie him up?  
  
Bob: *wags his plumed tail and thumps his foot happily*  
  
Sheba: Hey, can I get Ivan and we go with?  
  
Echo: *cheerfully* Sure! The more the merrier!  
  
Master Poi: And the quieter it will be for my students!  
  
Akafubu: Ahhhhhhhhh!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Ahh!" Ivan started running around in circles. "The oven's going to explode and Isaac's in it! And all the Mercury Adepts are stuck in computers so they can't put out the fire! This is soo not my fault!"  
  
He stopped as a thought hit him. "Hey, wait a minute! This *isn't* my fault! It's Echo's! Hey! Echo!" he yelled.  
  
Echo appeared beside him. "You called?"  
  
Ivan spun to glare at her. "This is your fault! You're the author! Do something!"  
  
Echo stared at the flaming oven. "Woah! That's a big fire!"  
  
Ivan slapped his forehead. "Yes Echo, that's a big fire! And Isaac got hit by an explosion and isn't responding!"  
  
Echo nodded absent-mindedly. "Yeah, that's what happened in the game as well. You have to douse the fire." "How?!" Ivan exploded. "I'm a Jupiter Adept, not a Mercury!"  
  
Echo rolled her eyes and got out her laptop. "Geez, no need to get all snippy on me!" She typed in a few words and pressed enter. The giant squirtgun she had used in Robin Hood appeared in Ivan's hands. "There you go!" she said, then disappeared again.  
  
"Thanks, I think!" Ivan grumbled. He turned back to the oven. "Okay, hasta la vista, flames!" He growled, pulling the trigger. Water sprayed out onto the fire, causing it to hiss. After Ivan drained nearly the entire water tank, the flames died down considerably.  
  
"That's the best I can do, I suppose." Ivan said, tossing aside the empty water gun and rushing to the PET. "Isaac! Isaac! Are you there?! Speak to me Isaac!"  
  
There was a moment of silence, then Isaac spoke up weakly. "Ivan? That you?" He sat up and groaned painfully. "This is all your fault, midget- boy!"  
  
"Isaac!" Ivan said joyfully. "You're alive! Now Mia won't kill me!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, hang on a moment!" Isaac said. He cast Cure several times. "Okay, much better! What happened?" he asked as he stood up.  
  
"We got hit by the Evil Repairman!" Ivan said seriously. "The oven almost exploded, but Echo zapped in and gave me a squirtgun so I could put out at least some of the flames."  
  
Isaac sighed. "And the sad thing is that I don't find that strange in the least!"  
  
"Yeah, and you almost got blown up!" Ivan said cheerfully.  
  
"Yeah, it was a blast!" Isaac said sarcastically.  
  
"Well, if you're feeling well enough to make bad puns..." Ivan frowned.  
  
Isaac merely growled. "When I find out who's been doing this...! Major pain is called for here!"  
  
"Yeah, well let's get going before who ever it was decides to blow you up again." Ivan advised.  
  
Isaac walked up to one of the flames and studied it. "Well, let's see if these water balloons really work."  
  
"Ice Blocks!" the program could be heard yelling off in the distance.  
  
"Whatever!" Isaac grumbled, digging out one of the water balloons, which had miraculously survived the explosion, and tossing it on the flames in front of him. The balloon popped and water gushed out, effectively putting out the flame. "Cool!" he said happily. "They work!"  
  
"Yayness!" Ivan said sarcastically. Isaac carefully hopped over the spot where the flame had been moments before, then continued on. He took two steps and was warped to the battle grid. "Aw, nuts!" He groaned. He noticed the two fiery dog-like creatures staring at him hungrily. "Stone Spire!"  
  
"Hm, got 100 zennys out of that one!" Ivan commented. "You know, you're going to have to use a battle chip some day!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah!" Isaac said non-chalantly. Don't need them now though!"  
  
He continued his trek through the oven cyberspace, going through several random battles and using up three more of his water balloons before he finally made it to the center. Standing on a platform was a large navi that looked basically like a giant walking flame-thrower with a face. Flames shot out of his hands and the top of his head.  
  
"What are you?!" Isaac asked in disbelief.  
  
"I am Fireman!" the navi roared at him.  
  
Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Fireman?"  
  
"Yes!" Fireman glared. "That is my name! And your meddling stops here!"  
  
Isaac snorted, trying not to laugh. "Fireman? Whoo, there's an original name! Let me guess, you like fire?"  
  
"I guess he thinks he's really 'hot' stuff!" Ivan chuckled  
  
"Ooh, he makes me so mad, he just 'burns' me!" Isaac laughed  
  
"Well, you know, they say his career's on 'fire'!" Ivan hooted.  
  
"Too 'hot' to handle!" Isaac doubled up.  
  
Fireman wasn't sure on how to handle this. "Um, Mr. Match...?"  
  
"That's your operator's name?" Isaac gasped merrily, wiping a tear from one eye. "Mr. Match?"  
  
"Uh, yeah..." Fireman said unsurely.  
  
Ivan and Isaac glanced at each other, then cracked up again.  
  
"What a perfect 'match'!" Ivan howled.  
  
"What, Fireman?" the repairman's voice came through. "What's the...oh, no...not him again!"  
  
"There he is, the man who's all 'fired up'!" Isaac wheezed. Both he and Ivan were now laughing so hard they could barely breathe.  
  
"That's it, I can't take it anymore!" Mr. Match cried out. "Fireman, delete that navi! Let's burn!"  
  
"Whoooo!" Fireman confirmed.  
  
This brought out a whole new round of laughter from Ivan and Isaac.  
  
"Alright!" Ivan chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. "Isaac, Battle routine, set!"  
  
"Execute!" Isaac replied merrily in the traditional netbattle intro.  
  
Isaac was instantly transported to the battlegrid. Fireman stood on the backrow of his side. "Time to burn!" Mr. Match snarled.  
  
Isaac quickly dodged the stream of fire that shot from Fireman's arms. "Oh, yeah? Take this!" He chucked one of his water balloons at Fireman, hitting him on the head.  
  
Fireman roared in pain as the water put out the flame on his head. "Hey!" Mr. Match protested. "You're not supposed to do that!"  
  
"Says who?" Isaac demanded. "I happened to have a few left over, and I don't want them to go to waste! Besides, are you supposed to be setting people's kitchen's on fire? I don't think so!"  
  
"Argh!" Fireman roared. "Water! It burns! I can't see!"  
  
"Wait, isn't it a bit of an oxymoron to say that water burns?" Ivan asked.  
  
Isaac stopped to consider this, ignoring the writhing navi on the other side. "You know, I don't think so. I mean, people say acid burns."  
  
"It hurts! I'm blind!" Fireman howled  
  
"Well, that's a chemical burn!" Ivan argued. "Have you ever heard of a water burn?"  
  
"Well, there's freezer burns!" Isaac stated.  
  
"Yeah, that's on foods in your freezer! On people, it's called frostbite!" Ivan retorted. "Besides, that's ice, not water!"  
  
"Augh! The pain!" Fireman wailed.  
  
"Ice is too water!" Isaac argued. "It's frozen water, both consisting of the compound H2O, just in different forms!"  
  
"Yes, but we're talking about liquid water!" Ivan stated. "Not ice!" Fireman managed to clamber to his feet. "You will die for this!" he howled, raising up one of his flamethrower arms.  
  
Isaac turned and threw another water balloon at him. "Hey, we're discussing something here if you don't mind!"  
  
"Aaaugh!!!" Fireman started to sob and collapsed again.  
  
Isaac turned back to Ivan. "Well, if you're going to exclude ice from the argument, you should have said so in the beginning!"  
  
"Fine!" Ivan snorted. "Isn't it an oxymoron to say *liquid* water burns?" He stopped an looked thoughtful. "Say, how many water balloons do you have left?"  
  
"Oh, just one." Isaac shrugged. "That stupid program gave me seven, and I used up four to get here." he continued back on topic. " And haven't you ever heard of people getting scalded by hot water? That's called a burn!"  
  
Ivan sounded thoughtful. "True...but it's not really the water, or the ice, for that matter, that really cause the burns. It's the reaction the *temperature* of the water has with our skin! If the water's too hot, it burns the skin, if it's too cold, it causes frostbite. It's not actually the compound H2O that causes the burns!"  
  
"Well, if we go with that argument," Isaac responded, "It's not really fire that burns, but the temperature..."  
  
"For the love of Pete, would you two quit it!" Mr. Match wailed. "I can't take it anymore!"  
  
Ivan sighed. "Spoilsport!" He cleared his throat. "Well, might as well finish him off!" he suggested.  
  
"Very well." Isaac nodded, then turned and chucked the last water balloon at Fireman. It struck him on the chest, and he collapsed.  
  
"The pain!" he whimpered. "Both the physical and mental pain! I can't take it anymore! Finish me, please!"  
  
Isaac rolled his eyes. "And I can't take anymore whining! Ragnarock!".  
  
The giant sword smashed into the evil, sobbing navi, and he disappeared in a could of data. "Enemy Deleted!" a voice spoke from above.  
  
"Hey, who said that?" Isaac asked, spinning about and eyeing the ceiling suspiciously.  
  
"And once again, good triumphs over evil, Mr. Match!" Ivan said boldly.  
  
"No," Mr Match growled. "Once again, good has annoyed evil to death! I swear, I'll get you someday!" Suddenly his tone struck a much more smug look. "Besides, I already got what I came for! I found the program I need right here in this oven! The first phase of the war has begun!" He began to cackle evilly as he cut off the transmission.  
  
"What's up with bad guys and telling their evil plans to the world?" Isaac asked.  
  
Ivan shrugged. "Plot development, I suppose. The fire stopped if you want to jack out!"  
  
"Finally!" Isaac rushed. "It's so dang hot in here!"  
  
He quickly jacked out, and Ivan unplugged the PET.  
  
Lady Layana stepped cautiously down. "Wow!" She commented. "That was interesting!" Then she looked miffed. "Hey! I was cooking supper in that oven! Now it's all burnt to a crisp!"  
  
"Aw, and I was hoping for a 'byte'!" Ivan joked.  
  
Isaac groaned. "Ivan, that one was so bad, it was painful!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ack! Attack of the killer puns! But that last one wasn't my fault! The 'byte' one was actually in the game. Really, really corny, I know, but in the game!  
  
Anywho, first villain down, many more to go! Pity them! I'm not going to be nice! Mwahahahaha!  
  
Er, review? Please? Pretty please? 


	5. Just Another Day at School

Echo: *closes the book 'Gulliver's Travels'* Well, that was fun!  
  
Bob: *wags his plumed tail and woofs in agreement*  
  
Felix: *walks in and looks up* Huh? What was fun?  
  
Echo: *waves cheerfully* Oh, hi Felix! Nothing much! Ivan, Sheba, Bob and I just teleported Akafubu into the book of Gulliver's Travels, to try and get the Lilliputians to try and tie him up, but he freaked out at the mere sight of them and started ranting about 'Little People'. Ivan and Sheba, who had been distracted up until then, mistakenly thought that he was talking about them, so they chased/are still chasing Akafubu around while casting various Jupiter psyenergy attacks. Bob and I watched for a bit, then got bored and started playing 'Go Fish' with the Lilliputians, which was hard, seeing as the cards were smaller then my fingernail, and Akafubu kept screaming.  
  
Felix: *eyeing the happy Living Statue nervously* I see.  
  
Bob: *drags Echo's Laptop to her and deposits it at her feet, wagging his tail*  
  
Echo: *coos* Aw, does da big boy want to see my reviews? Come on, den, less go! What a good boy!  
  
Felix: *rolls his eyes* Hoo, boy!  
  
Echo: *starts reading*  
  
~Yoshimi- Nah, it's not a matter of Isaac refusing to use the chips. It's just that he sees no point in them. And yes, you are getting behind on updates! Go! Update! Go now!  
  
Felix: Um, Echo. He *has* been updating.  
  
Echo: *stubbornly* Yes, on Stone Tablet, I know! It took him, what, a whole three days to update that one? It's not enough! I want more!  
  
Felix: *pats her on the head, speaking in a comforting voice* Yes, of course you do, Echo.  
  
~The Faction's Lord- Well, yeah, I suppose. But I still highly recommend the game. Besides, I'm going to leave out a few major plot-spoiling parts, just so not to ruin the game for those who are still working on it! ^_~  
  
~SpikeTV58- Of course it was Punny! I'm the queen of bad puns! Mwahahaha! *calms down* not that that's a desirable thing!  
  
~Scheree- Rock-climbing? I tried that, once. Only, it was about four in the afternoon, in July, and the climbing surface was facing the sun. Yeah. I could hear my hands sizzling from the heat.  
  
~Pureauthor- ^_^ Of course it's him, huh! Only, I had the worst time trying to figure out how to get that stupid cutscene in there, but I figured out a way! And yeah, Megaman does fight Gutsman about here as well, but it's pretty much optional, and I couldn't figure out a way to have them just duke it out, so, the fight will have to wait. And don't worry, Bass has a cool name, and despite my urges to make fun of fishing, I shall refrain from doing so!  
  
~Eternal Outcast- Yayness! ^_^ I wait impatiently for the next chapter! Er, sorry about the crispified part, though!  
  
~MercuryAdept- I totally agree with you! Bob rocks! I've always had a soft- spot for those Living Statues in the Altin Mines. I mean, sure, they're always spitting up so much water, but they're so *CUTE*!! *squeals*  
  
Bob: *woofs happily*  
  
Felix: *rolls his eyes* Echo, our little fangirl!  
  
Echo: *glares at him, then shoots him in the forehead with the scrunchy*  
  
Felix: *rubs his forehead* Hey! What was that for?!  
  
Echo: *smiling sweetly, handing him a piece of paper* I need someone to do the disclaimer. So hence, the scrunchy chose you! So read!  
  
Felix: *takes the paper, grumbling* Fine. EchoKazul doesn't own Golden Sun or Megaman Battle Network. There, you happy?  
  
Echo: *Nods cheerfully* Yup! Thanks!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The scene begins in a darkened room with several folding chairs set up and a projector on a wheeled cart in the middle of them. Someone walks in front of the large screen, and a flashlight beam suddenly cuts through the darkness and spotlights her.  
  
Echo winced, shielding her eyes. "Hey, Akafubu! I said you could hold the flashlight if you quit whining, but stop flashing it in my eyes or I'll have to take it away!"  
  
"Sorry!" Akafubu's voice is heard apologizing in distance, and the light moved slightly.  
  
Echo relaxed. "Much better!" She clears her throat and looks down at the paper in her hands. "Ok! I have turned the attention of the fic here because it's time for some..." she adopts a mysterious voice. "Plot Development and Foreshadowing!" She pulled out a remote and clicked play on it. "So, you need to watch this."  
  
The projector flickers to life, and the dim light could be seen spilling over Echo and the screen. She nodded. "Enjoy!" She then turned and walked away, the flashlight following her. "Um, Akafubu! You can turn it off now!"  
  
"Oh! Yeah! Sorry about that!" The flashlight clicked off as the projector began its blipping countdown.  
  
Five...*blip*  
  
Four...*blip*  
  
Three...*blip*  
  
Two...*blip*  
  
One...*whirrr*  
  
The film starts. It takes place in ACDC town, the hometown of our heros. It is night, and everyone is tucked safely into bed, under the false impression that peace and safety had once again been restored to their little town.  
  
How wrong they were!  
  
A sound echoed down the street, unlogically sounding like a horse, although the walker was definitely a man. Clip Clop Clip Clop. This caused the author much puzzlement, as she wondered whether this man was wearing high heels or something. Knowing who he was, it really wouldn't have surprised her all that much. But right now, as his identity has not yet been revealed, it just made a sinister echo through the empty streets.  
  
The mysterious stranger continued until he reached his destination, the ACDC elementary school. He stopped and studied the brick building. ".....ACDC elementary...." he said thoughtfully, all trace of his normal accent gone now that he was in 'evil and mysterious' mode.. "...This is the place." And though it was too dark to see it, you could definitely sense that the man was smiling. Evilly.  
  
*Click* All of a sudden all the lights in the room flashed on, and Echo walked up again, turning the film off with her remote as she walked. She nodded. "And there you have it, folks! I managed to get the cut-screen in there!"  
  
"Hey!" Akafubu's complaining voice could be heard. "What about the flashlight?! I was doing good, wasn't I?"  
  
Echo ignored him. "Now, back to our regularly scheduled program, where we'll find out that Ivan had a good night sleep!" She walks off screen again....  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Ivan was snuggled peacefully in bed, once again clad in his flannel pajamas. A sunbeam peeked through his window and shone on his face, causing him to squirm and eventually wake up. "Huh? Where?" It took him a few minutes to fully remember where he was. And when he did...  
  
"Aggh!" He yelped, rushing to the dresser and yanking out his normal clothing. "I overslept! And I'm going to be late for school!"  
  
"Huh...wha?" Isaac's sleepy voice could be heard yawning from the PET atop the dresser.  
  
Ivan was quickly changing. "Isaac! You were *supposed* to wake me up!"  
  
"Well, you're awake now!" Isaac yawned. "Now let me get back to sleep!"  
  
Ivan rolled his eyes, threw on his shoes, and grabbed the PET. "No! We have to get to school!"  
  
"Alright, alright!" Isaac grumbled. "You should just know before you rush out that..."  
  
Ivan had already dashed out of his bedroom door and was heading towards the stairs. "Whoaa!" he yelped.  
  
*Bang* *crash* *wham* *oof* *bam* *whump*  
  
"...that your shoes are in 'skate' mode..." Isaac finished lamely, once again screen down on the wooden floor.  
  
Ivan peeled himself off the bottom step. "Ow!"  
  
"Well, next time listen to your navi!" Isaac said unsympthetically.  
  
Ivan picked the PET up grumbling and rushed towards the front door. He passed Lady Layana, who looked startled as she turned with a pan full of muffins.  
  
"Ivan?" she asked, confused.  
  
He screeched to a halt, quickly ran back and grabbed a muffin, then raced to the front door again, stuffing the muffin in his mouth and explaining as he went. "Lateforschool, gottago, bye!"  
  
He raced down the street and through the giant gates into the schoolyard.  
  
"Oh, man!" Ivan whimpered. "I am so dead!"  
  
Isaac seemed distracted for a moment, then spoke up. "Hey, Ivan!"  
  
"School's already started!" Ivan worried. "Echo's going to kill me!"  
  
Isaac tried again. "Hey! Ivan! Yo!"  
  
"Maybe she won't notice!" Ivan said hopefully.  
  
"IVAN!"  
  
Ivan glanced down at his PET, annoyed. "What?!"  
  
Isaac glared at him from the screen. "Listen to me the first time! You got an e-mail from Fiezhi saying that she called your name for you in homeroom, so you're safe!"  
  
Ivan looked slightly sheepish. "Oh. Well, then I guess there's no point in hurrying too much!"  
  
Isaac slapped his forehead. "Why do I even bother!"  
  
Ivan snuck down the hallways until he finally reached the door to his class. He peered in. Everybody was seated already, and Miss Kazul could be heard talking.  
  
"Okay, genius!" Isaac whispered. "How do you plan on sneaking in when you sit in the blinking front row?!"  
  
"Easy!" Ivan smiled. "I use this!" He held up a glass-looking orb.  
  
"Oh, for Gaia's sake, is that the Cloak Ball?!" Isaac asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yup!" Ivan said proudly. "Comes in mighty handy!" He glowed ever so slightly. "Okay, sneak time!"  
  
He quickly disappeared and, sneaking very quietly, snuck up to his desk and quickly seated himself before becoming visible again. Sheba and Jenna gave him a dirty look, but fortunately, Miss Kazul didn't notice. She was too busy introducing the man next to her. "...and so, class, Mr. Higsby will be helping me teach for the next two weeks."  
  
Mr. Higsby grinned disturbingly at them. "Hello! I'm Mr. Higsby! I collect battlechips, it's my hobby! I'm looking forward to trading with you all! Be sure to come to me if you have any rare chips heh heh *snort*"  
  
"Ack!" Isaac whimpered. "That hair! It's going to give me nightmares!"  
  
Ivan had to silently agree. Their new teacher was tall and incredibly skinny. But the most obvious feature was the mass of hair on his head, the sheer size of which was larger then his entire head.  
  
"The new teacher's kinda...scary!" Fiezhi commented.  
  
Sheba, Jenna, and Ivan all agreed. Suddenly the bell rang out loudly. Out of the speaker located right next to the teacher's desk. Located uncomfortably close to Miss Kazul's ear.  
  
"Aghh!" Miss Kazul yelped in a most un-teacher-like way. She turned and glared at the speaker. "Alright class!" she said a little loudly, rubbing her ear. "Homeroom is dismissed. We have a ten minute break until the next class. Now that I've been properly deafened, I'm off to the control room to deal with a volume problem. I'll be right back!"  
  
She stalked angrily out of the room, Mr Higsby following.  
  
"The poor speaker system!" Ivan snickered.  
  
The class milled about, waiting for Miss Kazul to return. The Generic Students wandered about as the four friends grouped together.  
  
"Would you believe that Dex's house doesn't have a single photo album?!" Jenna complained. "Not one! I looked high and low! How am I supposed to find out what this kid Dex looked like if I can't even find one picture of him?"  
  
"I think Echo planned it that way." Garet told her from inside the PET.  
  
Suddenly the bell rang again, and the students scrambled to get to their desks before the teacher walked in.  
  
Ivan had just seated himself when the door opened and Mr. Higsby walked back in and stood behind the desk.  
  
"Weeeeeeeeell now," he grinned at them. "I'd like to start the first class, huh!"  
  
Fiezhi raised her hand. "Mr. Higsby? Where's Miss Kazul?"  
  
Mr. Higby looked slightly uncomfortable, but regained his composure quickly. "Miss Kazul felt sick, so she went to the nurse's office, huh!"  
  
There was a slight murmur among the classroom. Isaac looked slightly confused. "Echo's sick? Something's not right here! He's up to something!"  
  
Mr. Higsby quieted the class. "Now, I'd like to start the class off with some math exercises, huh!"  
  
"Or, maybe not..." Isaac shrugged over the groans of the classroom. "Who ever heard of an evil mastermind assigning math in his spare time?"  
  
"I think it's evil!" Ivan grumbled.  
  
Mr. Higsby walked towards the door. "Now if you'll all jack into your desks," he said, "the navi there will help you, huh!"  
  
With that, he left, closing the door behind him.  
  
"Boy, these kids sure spend a lot of time unsupervised!" Isaac commented.  
  
Ivan frowned. "It's weird that Echo's sick, though. I didn't think an author could in their stories!"  
  
Suddenly, an alarm blared loudly, causing every student to jump to their feet. A large ERROR message flashed across the digital blackboard.  
  
"What's going on?" Ivan asked in alarm.  
  
"I think it's the fire alarm!" Fiezhi said, frightened.  
  
"Fire?!" Isaac yelped. "No! No more fire! I'm finished with net fires! No more!" he whimpered.  
  
"What's his problem?" Jenna asked, eyebrow raised.  
  
Oh, he almost got blown up and burned to a crisp when our oven started on fire!" Ivan explained over the blaring alarm.  
  
"Oh, my poor Isaac-chan!" Mia cried sympathetically from her PET. "Ivan, what were you doing sending him into the oven?!"  
  
"It wasn't my fault!" Ivan protested. "Echo told me to!"  
  
Suddenly, a voice spoke over the loudspeaker. "Mwahahahaha!"  
  
Ivan frowned. "Why am I getting the feeling of De-ja-vu'?"  
  
The voice on the loudspeaker continued. "We will now announce...The real goal of our plan...to control the Net!"  
  
"Mmm!" Sheba said. "That's a refreshing change! Usually they want to rule the world!"  
  
The voice continued. "The WWW's true plan is to start a war...the Endgame! We will take over all the nets, including the military net! The only cure for this rotten world is...DELETION!!!"  
  
"My, somebody has issues!" Ivan commented.  
  
"How do you delete the world?" Garet asked, confused. "Blow it up, yeah, I can understand, but delete it?"  
  
Fortunately, the voice couldn't hear them. "To reach our goals, the WWW is recruiting new staff. We are beginning the re-education program today. Children! Study well, and become good slaves to the WWW!"  
  
With that, the speaker shut off.  
  
"A what?!" Fiezhi said in disbelief as various messages began to flash across the screen. "What do they mean, re-education program!"  
  
"I can't turn off my terminal!" one of the generic students cried.  
  
"Heey!" another one yelped by the door. "The door's locked too!"  
  
"Ha!" Jenna snarled. "Locked doors never could stop me for long! Fume!"  
  
The long strand of flames scorched the door and generic student slightly, but, other then that, did nothing.  
  
"Um, I don't think those doors are flammable!" Fiezhi offered.  
  
"Gee, you think!" Jenna snarled. Mars Adepts grew a little irritable when they discovered yet another thing they couldn't blow up.  
  
"Great!" Sheba siad. "Let's recap. We're locked in, there's a brainwashing program playing and we can't turn it off, and our author is missing!"  
  
"No to mention the fact that the building may be on fire!" Isaac reminded her. "Remember, the fire alarm?"  
  
"Um, I don't think that was the fire alarm, Isaac." Picard told him from his PET.  
  
"But, what if it was?" Isaac pointed out. "You don't know that it wasn't!"  
  
"Okay, we get it!" Sheba said, rolling her eyes. "So now what?"  
  
"Well," Ivan said thoughtfully. "When our oven started on fire, Echo told us we needed to jack into it. Perhaps, since the blackboard is the problem at hand, flashing the re-education program, we should jack into it!"  
  
"I nominate Garet!" Picard said. "He's the least likely to be affected by the brain-washing technique!"  
  
"And what is that supposed to mean?!" Garet asked, trying to glare at Fiezhi's PET.  
  
"Actually, that's a good choice!" Isaac said thoughtfully. "Just in case there's fire in there! You know, being a Mars Adept and all!" "Fine, fine!" Jenna grumbled. "We'll do it! Come on, Garet, let's go!"  
  
She walked up to the blackboard and plugged the her PET into it. "Garet.EXE, transmit!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


	6. A Look at the Intelligence of the Evil M...

Echo: *steps up and clears her throat* Ahem! Due to circumstances probably involving the infamous 'reset' button rumored to exist in the author's mind, (not my fault!!), there will be a special treat for today's disclaimer after the reviews. Enjoy.  
  
~Faction's Lord~ *waves* Hey, again! ^_^ Here's 'chpater' six for you!  
  
~Pureauthor~ And he speaks with the same amount of passion about Bass as he does about Windshipping! Amazing! Don't worry, Bass is safe from me! ^_~  
  
~MercuryAdept~ I try and update two fics at once, so I try not to neglect the others! And yes, I'm far to cruel to Akafubu, ain't I? (Insert evil laughter here)  
  
~Scheree~ Lack of sleep does weird things to people, doesn't it?  
  
~Eternal Outcast~ Eep! Karst is coming here?! Tell her she's free to fry Akafubu and Aaron as much as she wants. Me and Bob are going to go find a really, really good place to hide!  
  
~SpikeTV~ This soon enough for you? ^_^  
  
And now, to the disclaimer...!  
  
*Zooms into a TV, on which a home video seems to be playing...*  
  
(The Blue Scrunchy(tm) bounces across a counter, obviously being controlled by a piece of string tied to it. A piece of paper flashes across the screen like words on one of those Black and White Silent Movies(tm) while tinny yet dramatic piano music plays in the back ground.)  
  
Blue Scrunchy: (well, really, Piece of Paper(tm), but, you know...) I AM THE BLUE SCRUNCHY  
  
(Paper is removed and a new one flashes across the screen)  
  
Blue Scrunchy: I WILL READ THE DISCLAIMER  
  
(Paper is removed, and all of a sudden, a Black Scrunchy(tm) bounces across the screen, also tied to a piece of string and manipulated by an Unseen Person Off Camera(tm). Tinny Piano Music(tm) slips into the Evil Bad-guy Music(tm).)  
  
Black Scrunchy: (courtesy of Piece of Paper(tm)) HA HA. I AM THE BLACK SCRUNCHY  
  
(Paper change)  
  
Black Scrunchy: I WILL STOP YOU FROM READING THE DISCLAIMER, BLUE SCRUNCHY, FOR I AM EVIL  
  
(Paper change)  
  
Blue Scrunchy: NEVER! YOU WILL NEVER TRIUMPH, EVIL BLACK SCRUNCHY  
  
(Paper change)  
  
Blue Scrunchy: ECHOKAZUL DOESN'T OWN GOLDEN SUN OR MEGAMAN (really quick paper change) BATTLE NETWORK  
  
Black Scrunchy: CURSES! FOILED AGAIN!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Wow!" Ivan said, watching Jenna's PET, where Garet was sitting and shivering, wrapped in a blanket that had somehow appeared. "What was the Abominable Snow Monster doing in the school blackboard?"  
  
"Maybe he got lost?" Fiezhi suggested.  
  
"He really did a number on Garet, though." Isaac observed.  
  
"S-s-shuddup!" Garet chattered, huddled in his blanket.  
  
"There, there!" Jenna tried comforting him the best she could with him being inside the computer she was holding. "You just rest and Isaac will take care of everything!"  
  
"What?!" Isaac protested.  
  
"Well," Jenna explained patiently. "Garet's out of it, Mia's mainly a healer, not a fighter, and I, um..." she looks around, then lowers her voice. "I don't think Picard and Fiezhi make the best team."  
  
Isaac rolled his eyes. "And Ivan and I do?"  
  
Ivan sighed. "Ah, might as well, Isaac. You should know by now there's no arguing with Jenna when she's like this!"  
  
Isaac grumbled, but consented, and in a few minutes, Ivan had the PET plugged into the blackboard. "Isaac.EXE, transmit!"  
  
In a few seconds, Isaac found himself back in the school cyberworld.. Only this time there was an annoying ERROR message flashing in the background. The alarm could be heard faintly in the background.  
  
"Whoever's behind this must have a knack for the annoying!" Isaac commented.  
  
"So...what do we do now?" Ivan asked.  
  
"Er, I dunno!" Isaac said, looking around. "How about we take it as we go?"  
  
"Sounds like a plan." Ivan agreed. "Look for anything out of the ordinary."  
  
"Lessee here..." Isaac said, starting to walk around. "Out of the ordinary, huh? Um, desk, pretty normal. Another desk, still normal. Desk, chair, chair, desk, virus, RAGNAROCK, 52 zennys, desk, teacher's desk, panicked generic navi, desk, another desk, virus, STONE SPIRE, 48 zennys..."  
  
"Would you quit narrating?!" Ivan said, annoyed.  
  
"Well, excuse me!" Isaac said sarcastically. "I...Hey! Whazzat?"  
  
"See something?" Ivan asked curiously. "What is it?"  
  
"Er, I'm not sure!" Isaac asked suspiciously. "It's some kind of glowy thing blocking my path, like a gate made out of neon lights."  
  
"Well, can you past it?" Ivan asked.  
  
Isaac examined it carefully. "I don't think so...I don't see a knob or anything... Argh!" He leapt backwards and drew his sword as a voice spoke out.  
  
"This door is passcode protected. Door will not open without proper authorization. Hint: Number of desks in room 5A."  
  
"Alright, who are you, and who do you work for?" Isaac demanded, threatening the glowing gate with his sword.  
  
"This door is passcode protected. Door will not open without proper authorization. Hint: Number of desks in room 5A."  
  
"I assume you tell it the passcode, and it'll open." Ivan suggested.  
  
"Well, what kind of idiot would give such an obvious hint?!" Isaac demanded. "It must be a trap or something!"  
  
"Well, let's just try it!" Ivan argued. "Even if it's a trap, it's probably just a virus attack or something. Evil villains are stupid that way."  
  
"Fine, fine..." Isaac grumbled.  
  
"Lessee, room 5A. Why, how perfectly convenient!" Ivan said sarcastically. "That's the very room we're locked in!"  
  
"So go count the chairs already!" Isaac said impatiently.  
  
"My, aren't we in a hurry?" Ivan asked, grinning.  
  
"You try being stuck inside a school computer and see how well you like it!" Isaac pointed out. "I'm half afraid of being attacked by an encyclopedia or a textbook!"  
  
"Alright, I see your point!" Ivan grumbled. He turned away from the PET plugged into the chalkboard and glanced over the room. "Um....Nine." he said after a moment. "There's nine of them."  
  
"Alrighty then!" Isaac turned to the gate, trying not to look nervous. "I'm ready for any trap this may spring. Bring on your worst! Nine!"  
  
The voice spoke out again. "Passcode accepted. Thank you, and have a nice day!" The gate shimmered and disappeared.  
  
Isaac waited a moment, tensed up.  
  
"Nothing happened!" Ivan observed.  
  
"Yeah, I noticed." Isaac said wryly. He carefully walked forward, past where the gate used to be. After nothing happened, he frowned. "You know, my opinion of the villain here has just taken a nose dive!"  
  
Suddenly a generic student yelled out, "Hey, the door's unlocked now! We can get out!" Most of the generic students rushed to the door. "Freeeeee!"  
  
Ivan yelped and ducked, trying not to get run over. After the crowd disappeared, he carefully peered up. "Safe yet?"  
  
The other three Adept's in the room looked slightly dazed after the stampede.  
  
"Let me guess..." Jenna said sarcastically, her hair slightly messed up. "Isaac unlocked the door."  
  
Sheba and Feizhi were examining one of the generic students that had stayed behind. He was sitting rigidly in his chair, eyes focus straight ahead, a bit of drool hanging out.  
  
Feizhi waved a hand in front of his face. "Um, hello? Anybody in there?"  
  
The generic student continued to stare straight ahead. "The words..." he said in a droning voice. "They speak to me... They're so beautiful!"  
  
"Oookaay!" Picard said. "That's...odd."  
  
"Try Mind-reading him!" Mia suggested.  
  
"Alright..." Sheba said doubtfully. She cast Mind-Read on the drooling student. "Um...his thoughts mainly consist of the WWW and World Deletion."  
  
"The first of the Generic Students has fallen." Picard said sadly.  
  
"Er, and there seems to be a strange obsession about Lord of the Rings." Sheba finished.  
  
"I wonder..." Jenna said thoughtfully. She leaned down next to the hypnotized student. "Bilbo Baggins..." she whispered.  
  
The Generic Student recoiled as if the name gave him pain and hissed. "Bagginses! We hates it! We hates it...forever!!!"  
  
Jenna stood back up, looking serious. "We are obviously dealing with a very twisted individual here!"  
  
Ivan had been watching them, amused, until Isaac's voice caught his attention.  
  
"HEY! Jupiter Boy! Come on!"  
  
"Sorry!" Ivan apologized, turning back to the PET. "Okay, let's go now!"  
  
"Finally!" Isaac grumbled. He started walking down the path and, after a few minutes and two viruses, arrived at a fork in the path. "Why does this resemble a maze?!" Isaac groaned. "I'm going to have nightmares!"  
  
"Well, pick one!" Ivan told him.  
  
"Fine! Um, left!" Isaac marched down the left path.  
  
The fork was now quiet. After a few minutes of silence, a lone Bunny virus hopped up and stopped, peering around curiously, the occasional spark flickering between its two ears. Seeing nobody else around, it began to bathe its face.  
  
"RAGNAROCK!!!" A huge transparent sword crashed into the virus, deleting it instantly. Isaac marched angrily past the fork in the road again, this time taking the right path.  
  
"Stupid dead ends!" Isaac grumbled. Suddenly he stopped. "Oh, hey, whaddya know! It's another one of those high-security gates!"  
  
"What's the hint on this one?" Ivan asked.  
  
Isaac walked up to it. "Lemme see."  
  
"This door is passcode protected. Door will not open without proper authorization. Hint: Number of Volumes of World History."  
  
Isaac glanced up. "Well?"  
  
"Just wait a second, and I'll check for ya." Ivan nodded. After glancing over the books in the classroom, he came to a conclusion. "Um, Isaac? There aren't any 'World History' books!"  
  
Isaac shrugged. "Perhaps they're in a different room?"  
  
Ivan snapped his fingers. "The library! That's just down the hall!"  
  
"Alright. I'll wait here while you check." Isaac nodded.  
  
"Sure thing!" Ivan turned away from the PET and looked down at his shoes, throwing a quick glance at Sheba. He grinned. "Time for a little speed, huh?" He reached down and pushed the button on the side of the shoes, turning them into roller skates.  
  
"Um, are you sure that's such a good idea?" Isaac asked doubtfully. "You've never skated before. Well, besides falling down the steps."  
  
"Of course I'm sure. Jupiter Adepts are naturally nimble."  
  
"That, and you want to impress Sheba."  
  
Ivan glared at him. "Hey, you'd do the same in my shoes, admit it!"  
  
Isaac chuckled. "You make a clever line and don't even know it!"  
  
"Huh?" Ivan was confused for a bit, then glared. "Oh, ha-ha! I'm leaving now. Bye!"  
  
With that, he took one tentative step forward. Encouraged by the fact he didn't fall down, he took two more steps, then glided across the classroom floor.  
  
"Ooh! Lookin' good, Ivan!" Sheba waved to him.  
  
Ivan waved back as he skated through the doorway, then there was a 'whump' and an 'ow' as he collided with the hallway wall.  
  
"That's my boy!" Sheba chuckled, turning back to the other two girls.  
  
"I'm okay!" Ivan hollered.  
  
It didn't take him long to find the library. In fact, it was one of the two other rooms on this floor. Unfortunately, the doors that led downstairs were locked. That didn't really matter, as the books Ivan needed were up on this floor in the library.  
  
"How convenient that the books I need to find are so obvious!" Ivan muttered to himself as he counted them. "Really, if I were an evil mastermind and I just *had* to use such stupid questions for my passcodes, I'd at least put, I don't know, how many spoons in the silverware drawer in the kitchen, down in the basement where nobody ever goes! Ah, got it!"  
  
He skated back into the room and skidded skillfully to a halt. Walking up to his PET, he grinned. "See? I told you that Jupiter Adepts were quick!"  
  
"Yeah, but it was worth it, seeing you crash into the wall!" Isaac grinned.  
  
"Aw, shaddup!" Ivan grumbled. "Let's just keep going, shall we? The answer is thirty."  
  
Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Thirty books on World history? Wow! And this is just an elementary school! The poor kids!"  
  
"I know!" Ivan agreed.  
  
After telling the door the answer, Isaac watched it disappear. "Maybe he just has a really bad memory. That's why he made the answers so easy."  
  
"Still debating on the villain, huh?" Ivan asked.  
  
"I mean, this is so stupid! 'How many desks are in room 5A'? How is that supposed to hinder us?" Isaac walked past the place where the gate used to be and continued exploring.  
  
"Just accept that he's not the most brilliant strategist and let it go." Ivan advised.  
  
Isaac would have said more, but he was attacked by a virus just then.  
  
Seven viruses later, Isaac stood in front of another gate. "Alright, this is getting really old really fast." he growled.  
  
"What's the clue?" Ivan asked tiredly.  
  
Isaac listened to the voice and nodded. "How many doors are in the school."  
  
"Geez, I'm almost doing as much running as you!" Ivan grumbled. "I hope that last gate we were at also unlocked the stairways doors, or we might have to guess our way out of this one!"  
  
"I feel no pity for that running around comment." Isaac said dryly. "Get going!"  
  
"Fine, fine!" Ivan grumbled. He put his shoes in 'Skate Mode' again (he was getting rather fond of it) and headed out the doorway. Thankfully, the stairways doors were unlocked, and he managed to get down them without falling, though he had to cling tightly to the railing once or twice. After making an entire round of the school, he headed back.  
  
Jenna looked back up as he glided in through the door. "Oh, hey, Ivan! You better hurry! We lost another Generic Student!"  
  
He skidded to a halt. "What?"  
  
Sheba looked stressed. "It's spread to Star Wars as well!"  
  
Feizhi nodded. "Yup! See, watch this!" She bent down and spoke to another dazed-looking Generic Student. "What is Han Solo's gun?"  
  
"A custom made DL-44 blaster pistol." came the unhesitant reply.  
  
Ivan stared. "Wow. Mega-geek information! This is worse then I thought!"  
  
Picard looked serious from his PET. "Yeah, and another one can recite the entire book of 'The Two Towers'...in *elvin*!"  
  
Feizhi nodded. "He's still going. See? Over there in that corner!" She pointed to a desk where a student sat staring blankly and reciting something in a strange language.  
  
Ivan sighed. "Isaac and I are doing the best we can!"  
  
"I'm sure Isaac can do it!" Mia said confidently.  
  
"Yeah, somehow we already knew Isaac had your vote of confidence." Ivan murmured, turning back to his PET.  
  
"What took you so long?!" Isaac demanded.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Ivan said sarcastically. "I only had to run through the entire school!"  
  
"Well, how many doors?" Isaac asked.  
  
"Fifteen." Ivan told him.  
  
"I just can't believe how easy this is!" Isaac grumbled as the gate gave the normal 'Thank you, have a nice day!' and disappeared.  
  
"You should be thankful." Ivan advised him. "Means less work for you."  
  
"I suppose..." Isaac grumbled as he continued deeper into the school net. "It's just that....AAGGH!!"  
  
Suddenly a massive amount of electricity shot all around Isaac, shocking him.  
  
"ISAAC!" Ivan cried worriedly.  
  
"Owowowowow!" Isaac yelped as the electricity continued to spark around him. "I-Ivan! C-can't m-move!"  
  
"Isaac, hang on!" Ivan tried to reassure him. "I'll get you out of this!" He thunked his forehead. "But how?! Wait a moment!" His head shot up. "Every time Isaac unlocked a door in there, a door unlocked out here! The Net is connected to the real world somehow! I bet..." He turned back to his PET. "Isaac, do you know where you are?!"  
  
Isaac glanced around desperately. "N-near the a-AV r-room." he managed to somehow tell him. "H-hurry!"  
  
"Going!" Ivan nodded. He quickly skated out the door, thankful that the girls had left the room to go find the status of other Generic Students. What state would Mia be in if she knew Isaac was in trouble.  
  
He rushed down the stairways and headed towards the AV room. Reaching it in record time, he reached for the doorknob and was promptly knocked to the ground as the door suddenly opened and slammed into him.  
  
Mr. Higsby stepped out, then noticed Ivan on the ground. "Sorry, *snort*" he snorted before rushing away.  
  
"W-wait!" Ivan called out, but either Mr. Higsby didn't hear him, or he was ignoring him. Either way, he was in a big hurry.  
  
Ivan frowned. "What's going on?" he wondered aloud as he got to his feet. Shaking his head, he rushed into the AV room. "Lessee here, what could be causing the problem in the Net?" he said to himself as he looked around. He noticed one of the computer screens was flashing, and he went to investigate.  
  
"Hm, 'Warning: Creating Extensive Database of all Extra-Terrestrial Lifeforms in the 'Star Trek' series. Information Overload.'" Ivan read aloud. "This must be the problem. If I restart the computer...What the...?!"  
  
The screen read, "Error4267. Command not recognized. Unable to Reboot."  
  
"Why you little..." Ivan growled. "If you don't reboot this instant, I'll Spark Plasma you out of existence!"  
  
"Re-analyzing command....Due to special circumstances, reboot will initiate immediately." With that, the computer shut down, then re-started again.  
  
"Told them I should be a computer repairman!" Ivan said with satisfaction. He hurried back upstairs to find Isaac free of the trap and casting several 'Cure's upon himself.  
  
"Time to exact great pain and devestation?" Ivan suggested.  
  
Isaac just glared murderously around. "You bet!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Stay tuned for the next exciting installment, in which we discover what happened to our beloved author, Echo and who the mysterious villain is (you probably already know, anyway). As always, reviews are quite cherished! 


	7. The Mystery of the Missing Author

(The GS crew are sitting peacefully in the living room again, once again engaged in board games and TV.)  
  
Picard: (moves a chess piece) You know, it's been a long while since we've heard anything from Echo.  
  
Isaac: (snuggling with Mia on the couch, watching TV) I know. Isn't it great!  
  
Picard: (glances up) But don't you think we should at least look for her?  
  
Garet: (walks in out of the kitchen) I second that! We're almost out of food! She needs to get groceries!  
  
Ivan: (glares at him from where he's playing chess with Picard) Well, if you wouldn't eat them so quickly!  
  
Garet: (shrugs) Well, I was hungry!  
  
Mia: (sighs and reluctantly sits up) Sorry, Isaac, but I agree with Picard. We should go find Echo.  
  
Isaac: (whimpers) But...it's so nice and peaceful now!  
  
Jenna: C'mon Isaac, before I'm forced to torch the couch!  
  
Isaac: (gets up reluctantly) Like anybody needs to force you to torch anything!  
  
Felix: (walks into the room, reading a book)  
  
Sheba: Oh, hey! Felix! Have you seen Echo lately?  
  
Felix: (glances up) Hmm? Oh! Er, not lately, I haven't. Last I saw her, she was upstairs hiding from Akafubu in the closet.  
  
Ivan: (sarcastically) Oh, Jinkies. A clue.  
  
Garet: (strikes a noble pose) To the closet, then, to find the author!  
  
Isaac: (settles back down on the couch) I'll stay down here and make sure that the couch doesn't get stolen.  
  
Aaron: (rushes in, holding Echo's laptop happily) Hey guys! Look at what I found!  
  
Isaac: (quickly gets up and heads for the stairs) On the other hand, maybe you guys will need my help!  
  
Aaron: (watches them go) Huh. Guess they don't want to stick around a read the reviews with me! (Notices Felix, who's still standing there) You! As spokesman for the now missing Blue Scrunchy, I choose you to read the disclaimer!  
  
Felix: Huh?  
  
Aaron: Just, wait there while I read the reviews! (Snickers) Oh! I love playing author!  
  
-------------------  
  
The Faction Lord- You liked the Black Scrunchy too? I happen to know that Echo's Blue Scrunchy came in a set of five, Blue, Black, Green, White, and Purple. Echo was thinking about making the Purple Scrunchy the Blue Scrunchy's love interest, but decided that was too weird and dropped it.  
  
Scheree- Booyah! That is such an awesome word! I like it! Maybe I'll just have to use that to annoy Isaac sometime!  
  
Pureauthor- Well, Echo's tuned me into a little bit of info. She's planning on using that chip in the near future! It'll be most interesting! (Aaron snickers again)  
  
MercuryAdept- Irritating NPC? Well, I'm certainly glad you're not talking about me! Nope! I'm not irritating!  
  
Felix: Er, I think we'd all beg to differ on that point  
  
Aaron: (glares, then turns back to the reviews)  
  
Yoshimi Takahashi- You're behind on updating?! Look at Echo!  
  
WolfYoukai64- Um...ew? I bet that was messy!  
  
The Mysterious Al- Ooh! Where'd you find the sugar? Just kidding! No, I know that Echo portrays Akafubu as rather pathetic, but I know for a fact that she didn't expect it to escalate so. He was supposed to appear in just one or two chapters, but suddenly just started popping in all over the place! And the gollum thing is because she had just gotten back from the LOTR movie and was saying 'my precioussss' for days afterwards.  
  
Joe Rikino- Why, thank you! I do take full credit myself. Echo would never get anything done if I didn't help her!  
  
Lord isacc- That computer thing seems to be a favorite of many people! (Thoughtfully) Maybe I should go into computer repairs!  
  
-------------  
  
Felix: (looking very grateful) That seems to be the last of them! Thank goodness!  
  
Aaron: Oh, yeah, here... read this! (Hands him a piece of paper)  
  
Felix: (takes it and looks it over) Um... it's blank.  
  
Aaron: Oh, yeah! Oops! (Takes it back and scribbles on it with a crayon, before handing it back) There. Now read it!  
  
Felix: (squints) Um... Eko Kaazul...dosnt oun Magaman Batle netwrk or Goldn son. (Shakes his head) I assume that's supposed to read Echo Kazul doesn't own Megaman Battle Network or Golden Sun?  
  
Aaron: (waves his hand carelessly) Same thing!  
  
Felix: (sighs) If Echo asks, this was all your doing!  
  
Aaron: (cheerfully) Sure! And now we start the story!

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Isaac studied the cyber-gate in front of him, frowning and tapping his foot. Reaching forward, he poked the gate again with his sword.  
  
"ID card required for further access. Thank you!"  
  
He sheathed his sword and sighed. "Well, Ivan, unless we get the ID card to get passed this gate, I don't think that we're going any further!"  
  
Ivan frowned. "An ID card? Where would we get one of those?"  
  
"Well, I assume one of the school staff would have one." Isaac suggested. "Probably a teacher or a janitor. We've only met two staff here, one's an aid who's really eccentric, and the other is currently missing."  
  
"There's something funny about Higsby anyway." Ivan frowned. "We're probably going to have to find Echo in order to get the ID card."  
  
"Er, well, I suppose we should find Echo anyways." Isaac agreed. "It's not a good idea to leave your author hanging, I suppose. She might get annoyed and give us a tail or donkey ears or something."  
  
"I'll go look." Ivan sighed. He suddenly gave an impish grin. "Don't go anywhere, ya hear!"  
  
"Haha." Isaac said darkly. "As if I could. Just get going, Jupiter boy, before that mind control program completely takes over the generic student body and starts moving onto us!" "Yeah, yeah, be back soon!" Ivan told him. He reached down, hit the button on his shoes, and skated off.  
  
"Lessee here..." Ivan mused to himself as he skated. "Mr. Higsby said that Echo was sick, so the nurse's office is the best place to start."  
  
He head towards the small office, dodging the dazed generic students wandering randomly around the halls. Sheba, Jenna, and Feizhi were also around, trying to herd the zombified generic students into a makeshift corral they had made out of desks and jumpropes.  
  
"Hehe, get in there!" Jenna grinned, as she dragged a GS, who was muttering about jedi and sith lords, by the arm roughly. Fiehzi swung open the gate consisting of rulers held together by rubber bands, and Jenna shoved him in there. He wandered over to join the growing number of glassy eyed, muttering Generic Students already huddled in the corner of the corral.  
  
Ivan peered into the nurse's office, only to find it empty. He wasn't totally surprised and, after a moment's consideration, decided that the best plan B he could think of was really just to wander about and look in every room he came to.  
  
It, surprisingly enough, didn't take him nearly as long as he thought it would. About two rooms down, he peered into the janitor's closet and noticed an untied sneaker sticking out from behind a row of old, unused lockers.  
  
"Echo!" he yelped, suddenly a little worried. He rushed in the room and shoved aside a mop leaning against a wall to reveal an unconscious Echo propped up against the wall.  
  
"Echo!" he said urgently, shaking her by the shoulders. "Wake up!"  
  
She snored softly. At that moment, he noticed a an empty wrapper on the ground next to her and picked it up.  
  
"'Evil Sleeping Skittles for Evil Villains'" he read aloud. "'Guaranteed to render authors asleep for three hours, or your money back! Great for plot devices!' Great. Just great." he said in disgust. He glanced at the slightly snoring author. "Only Echo would fall for something like that. Now what are we going to do?"  
  
"Mmmph...die...evil...intercom..." Echo muttered sleepily.  
  
"Oh, for Jupiter's sake!" Ivan rolled his eyes. "Is she still harping on that?"  
  
"I-Ivan?" Echo's eyes fluttered open and she yawned widely. "W-what's going on?"  
  
"Echo!" he yelped happily. "You're waking up! Quick, we need an ID card to stop the evil person who wants to turn the entire student body into World Three geeky slaves!"  
  
"I-ID card?" Echo still wasn't totally awake yet. She yawned again and her eyes began to droop again.  
  
"No, no, Echo!" Ivan was alarmed. "Stay awake! We need the ID card!"  
  
Echo looked slightly confused, then smiled sleepily. "Oh....that....sure, you can have it!" She yawned again. "I.... I have a c-copy with me..."  
  
Ivan waited for her to continue, but when she didn't say any more, he noticed she was slowly beginning to nod off again. "Echo!"  
  
Echo snapped awake again. "Huh?! I'm awake! I'm awake!"  
  
"ID card? Ring a bell?"  
  
Oh...yeah...here..." she fumbled clumsily around for a moment, then came up with a small ID card with a barcode on it. "This...this...this ought to...work...zzzzzz.." The card slipped from her fingers as she slowly drifted back off to sleep.  
  
Ivan picked the ID card from the ground and stared. "Wow, those are some powerful Skittles!" He looked thoughtful. "Hmm...wonder if whoever did this has any extra? They might come in handy when she gets bit by the parody bug again!"  
  
He summoned Feizhi, Jenna, and Sheba over and together they managed to drag the sleeping author over to the nurse's station and plopped her on the bed there to sleep off the Skittles. Ivan found the terminal near the locked door and swiped the ID card through it.  
  
"Hey, that did it!" Isaac's voice suddenly sounded out of nowhere. "The gate's open!"  
  
"Isaac!" Ivan yelped jumping back startled..  
  
"What? And you don't need to yell, I can hear you fine!" Isaac's voice sounded a little grumpy.  
  
"Er, sorry. Um, how are we talking?" Ivan looked around, confused. He was nowhere near the PET, and Isaac was stuck in the cyberworld, wasn't he?  
  
"Hm? Oh, look down by your belt, there's a little communication device so I can talk to you even when your away from the PET."  
  
"Really?" Ivan glanced down and noticed the small speaker-like device clipped to his belt. "Well, that's nifty! How come you never used this before?"  
  
Ivan could almost visualize Isaac shrugging. "Didn't know about it before. I was really bored waiting for you and I started fiddling around with some of the programs in the PET and it just sorta popped on a few minutes ago."  
  
"Well, that's really nice to know." Ivan told him, examining the device. He suddenly broke out into a grin. "Hey, look! It even has a mute button! I like it!"  
  
"Haha, Jupiter boy." Isaac grumbled. "Now get over here so I can beat up the one responsible for this."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, coming!" Ivan grumbled, skating back to the classroom. He turned into the room and stopped near the PET. "Okay! Here!"  
  
"Took you long enough!" Isaac's face glared at him from the PET screen.  
  
"Sorry!" Ivan rolled his eyes. "Now then, can we get going?"  
  
"Sure." Isaac began walking down the walkway that had been blocked by the gate minutes before. "According to the little electronic map thingy that's installed into the PET's programs, the main server is just down this way and if we reset it, the Geek 101 program should stop."  
  
"And, as this is a video game and nothing can be easy, the boss will be there." Ivan added.  
  
"Yup." agreed Isaac. "More'n likely! He should be just ahead."

"And he should have a stupid name like 'Textbookman' or something." Ivan observed.

"Maybe 'Appleman'?" Isaac suggested. "Apples seem like a big thing in school."

"Chalkboardman?"

"How about 'Teacherman'?"

"Ooh! That's a good one!"

Isaac rounded the corner, then froze at the sight of the Navi waiting for him. "Dear Gaia! Is that who I'm fighting?!"  
  
"It's... Lightbulbman?" Ivan hazarded a guess.  
  
The navi waiting in front of the server, who indeed looked like his head was a giant lightbulb with flashing lights in it, glared at them. "I am Numberman." it said in a nasally computer voice. "Mr. Hisby! We have visitors!"  
  
Suddenly Mr. Higsby's voice sounded over speaker. "Very good, Numberman. I really didn't think they'd make it this far!"  
  
"Numberman?" Ivan and Isaac voiced at once. They glanced at each other through the PET screen, and both slowly broke out into a grin.  
  
"Well, I guess it 'adds' up!" Isaac grinned broadly  
  
"Seems like our troubles just seem to 'multiply', don't they?" Ivan joked.  
  
"Er, what are you two talking about, huh?" Mr. Higsby asked, confused. "Aren't you here to try and stop me, huh?"  
  
"He's got a point." Ivan said. "We really should get this over with. That, and I can't think of too many bigger 'problems' at the moment."  
  
Isaac drew his sword. "Well, I guess I should make sure their days are 'numbered', shouldn't I?"  
  
"Enough with the bad puns!" Mr. Higsby exploded. He sighed. "Huh, they don't pay me enough for this!"  
  
"But Mr. Higsby!" Numberman said in confusion. "You were so excited about the pay just a little bit ago and all the rare chips you were going to buy!"  
  
"Yes, but they didn't tell me that I was going to have to put up with this, huh!" Mr. Higsby glared. "Numberman, delete him!"  
  
"Isaac! Battle routine set!"  
  
Isaac glanced at him. "Why do we have to say that everytime we get into a boss battle?"  
  
Ivan sighed. "'Cause it's in the script! Now say your part!"  
  
"Fine, fine!" Isaac grumbled. "_Execute_. There."  
  
"I'll teach you to make fun of my name!" Numberman growled, throwing a pair of large dice at Isaac.  
  
"What?" Isaac asked, confused, moments before the dice exploded and blew him backwards.  
  
"Isaac!!" Ivan yelped, worried. "Are you alright?!"  
  
"Yeah..." Isaac growled, quickly clambering to his feet and looking slightly charred. "This guy gives new meaning to the term 'loaded dice', though!"  
  
"That's it, Numberman, huh!" Mr. Higsby grinned. "Show them what you're made off, huh snort!"  
  
"Of course, Mr. Higsby!" Numberman grinned, throwing another dice at Isaac.  
  
"Oh, no you don't!" Isaac growled, swinging the Sol Blade. The flat of the blade struck the dice and sent it hurtling back towards Numberman.  
  
"Oh, algebra!" Numberman cursed, before the dice struck him and exploded. "Ow."  
  
"Now you know how it feels!" Isaac growled.  
  
The two slightly charred Navis glared at each other for a moment.  
  
"Give up!" Numberman growled. "I have the intelligence of a super-computer and the power of my number attacks will blow you away! You don't stand a chance!"  
  
Isaac merely rolled his eyes. "And I, my dear lightbulb, am a high-level Venus Adept slightly empowered by the Golden Sun!" He grinned. "Translated, that means I have an almost unlimited supply of rocks." His left hand glowed slightly, and a small stone appeared in it. "A lightbulb's worst fear, are they not?"  
  
"No!" gasped Numberman, taking a step back.  
  
Oh, yes!" Isaac grinned. He reared back and chucked the stone at Numberman.  
  
It struck the giant lightbulb that composed the Navi's head and shattered the glass. A few sparks flew out, then a deep voice boomed out, "Enemy Deleted!".  
  
"Hey, there's that creepy voice again!" Isaac yelped, looking quickly around to see if he see the speaker.  
  
"Well, that 'sums' up this fight!" Ivan couldn't resist one more pun.  
  
Higsby seemed to be in shock. "Ugah-gah-gah..."  
  
"I think he blew something." Isaac observed.  
  
"You see?" Ivan said triumphantly. "Evil never wins! You were wrong all along!"  
  
"Gwagoogoo..."  
  
"Let's see what your precious rare chips have done for you now!"  
  
"Gloating much?" Isaac asked him. "Besides, I was the one who did all the work!"  
  
"Well, I'm right, aren't I?" Ivan demanded.  
  
"...Yes...Lan's right!" Mr. Hisgby finally proved that he could still speak. I should collect rare chips by busting viruses. I'll be good now."  
  
"What?!" Ivan looked surprised. "You mean...it actually worked? But bad guys never turn good when good guys gloat! They always say 'I'll get you next time!' or something like that!"  
  
"Trade chips sometime?" Mr. Higsby offered.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, why not!" Ivan said. "It's not like we use them or anything." He thought for a minute. "But, you know, you still need to make up for your crime so...go do good...or something..."  
  
"Alright!" Mr. Hisgsy said happily, then cut off the link.  
  
Isaac gave Ivan a look. "What?!" Ivan protested.  
  
"Nothing!" Isaac rolled his eyes. "I was just thinking about that part with Dodonpa and Master Hammet., right after we defeated that big frog of his."  
  
"Yeah, I remember that." Ivan glanced at the screen at him. "What about it?"  
  
Isaac shrugged. "You just reminded me of that, that's all!"  
  
Ivan glared. "Hey, he apologized, turned from his evil ways, and has repented. Why push it any further?"  
  
Isaac rolled his eyes again. "Whatever you say, Jupiter boy! Now go reset the computer so that the zombie nerd program stops like a good little boy, okay?"  
  
"You know, I wouldn't be so cheeky if I were you!" Ivan grumbled as Isaac jacked out of the computer. "I still have the power to stuff the PET in a sock drawer, mind you!"  
  
"You wouldn't!" Isaac said darkly.  
  
They quickly left the classroom that had been the base of operation and headed down to the principal's office, which had the large main computer. Jenna, Feizhi, and Sheba joined him. In a few minutes, Ivan stood before the giant computer, covered with blinking lights and buttons.  
  
"Ooookay..." he frowned. "Isaac? Any help here on how to reset it?"  
  
"Sorry. I don't have any information on this downloaded." Isaac apologized.  
  
"Just push a button!" Jenna suggested. "It ought to do something!"  
  
"Alright!" Ivan nodded, then hesitantly reached out and pushed a button.  
  
All the lights went out.  
  
"Oops! Um, maybe this button?"  
  
Suddenly, disco music started blaring loudly.  
  
"Agh! Ivan! Turn it off!"  
  
"Um, um, this button!"  
  
Colored lights began flashing and roaming the room as a giant glittery ball dropped out of the ceiling and began to spin.  
  
"Oh, for Mars sakes! Here!" Suddenly the loud music stopped and the regular lights turned back on to reveal Jenna standing with the computer's plug in hand.  
  
"Well, that's one way to restart the computer!" Picard commented.  
  
Ivan looked rather dazed. "Okay, why does the principal have those buttons?"  
  
"Some things are best not to be thought about." Isaac advised him.  
  
Jenna plugged the computer back in, and everything reset again.  
  
"Whew!" Ivan said thankfully. "Glad that's over with! Now the re-education program has stopped, the Generic Students should be fine, and the day is saved once again to Ivan!"  
  
"A-hem!" Isaac coughed. "Of course, I played no part in this!"  
  
Suddenly Echo tottered through the doorway, rubbing her eyes. "Huh? What'd I miss? I remember finding some Skittles, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up in the nurse's office!" She looked around. "Hey! What are you guys doing here? It's fourth period, time for English class!"  
  
"Aw, man!" Ivan complained as Echo herded them back into the classroom. "We fixed it too soon!"

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Sheba: (standing in front of the closet door) Okay, now it's time to find out what happened to our author!  
  
(She throws the closet door open)  
  
Everybody: GASP!!  
  
Isaac: Alright, now that the oxygen level in the room has been properly depleted...  
  
Mia: (stares) Oh. Dear. Mercury. I never imagined something so horrible could happen!  
  
Jenna: (looks around) And you guys know what? I'm getting this odd feeling to threaten for reviews.  
  
Sheba: (rubs her hands together evilly) And now's our chance to get our revenge against all those who have cliffhanged against us!  
  
Ivan: Cliffhanged? Is that even a word?  
  
Picard: (thoughtfully) So that means they're going to have to wait until next time to find out what happened to Echo and why she hasn't been updating? Oh, that's cruel! 

Sheba: But fun. You can't deny that it's fun!

Jenna: Review or get Dragon Fumed! There! I said it! I threaten for reviews!


	8. Stoneman, aka Gok

The Adepts all stared at Echo.

Sheba searched for something to say, but for once was speechless. "Well...that would explain why she wasn't updating..." she finally said.

Echo sat happily among hundreds of CremeSaver wrappers, her eyes glazed over and a happy, blank look on her face. "Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

"You know, it's usually the muse that gets a sugar high, not the author." Isaac commented, nudging her with his foot.

Echo's eye twitched rapidly. "Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

Picard frowned. "What I want to know is, where did she get all that candy?"

"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!" Echo continued to giggle with the happy, faraway look on her face.

Mia glanced at him curiously, then back at the giggling author. "You think that it was a sabotage? That somebody planted all that sugar within her reach?"

Echo twitched. "Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

Picard gestured toward the sugar-induced-semi-comatose Echo. "Well, this is the reason we keep all of the extra candy locked up. And her Snack Sack had been emptied by Megan, remember?"

Ivan shuddered. "I sure do!"

Echo was still staring straight ahead happily. "Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

Jenna was getting annoyed. "Doesn't she have an off button!"

"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

"I can make one!" Garet offered, trying to be helpful.

"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

"Er, Garet, setting the author on fire isn't considered making an off button. Besides, it's probably not a very wise decision in the long run." Mia advised him.

"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!"

"Oh, for the love of ice cubes!" Picard said, exasperated. He smacked Echo on the back of the head.

Echo tipped over and immediately fell asleep.

"Thank you!" Jenna said emphatically.

Picard stared at the sleeping author. "Er, no problem, I think."

Sheba nodded. "Now, to figure out who's behind this!"

Isaac sighed. "Okay. Fine. Garet, why don't you and Jenna take Echo to the couch to sleep off the sugar while we go find the sweets culprit."

"Why us?" Garet grumbled as he bent over and picked up the unconscious Echo. He then tossed her over one shoulder and made a face. "Oh, yuck. I think she drooled!"

"C'mon, Garet. We can play with the fireplace while we wait for her to wake up." Jenna grinned.

Garet cheered up quickly. "Ooh! Fun!"

Ivan rolled his eyes. "That doesn't bode well."

They were interrupted by Aaron, who was running upstairs crying, "Waaaaaaaiiiiit!"

Mia looked at him in surprise. "Aaron?"

Aaron gasped for breath for a moment, then pointed at Picard. "As spokesperson for the Blue Scrunchy, I choose you to do the disclaimer."

Picard blinked. "Huh?"

Aaron nodded. "Yeah. The Scrunchy hasta be with Echo for emotional support, so I elected myself in charge for the moment. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to do reviews anymore, though, so we don't need to do that. Something to do with being unsure about guidelines. You might've noticed that we've no longer in script format 'cause of them as well."

Isaac nodded appreciatively. "Yeah, I noticed the lack of script format. Very nice!"

"An improvement, I think!" Mia agreed.

"Alright, well, if we're done breaching the fourth wall right now, let's get this disclaimer done with and the story started." Ivan told them.

"Picard?" Aaron prompted.

Picard sighed. "Fine! EchoKazul doesn't own Golden Sun or Megaman Battle Network."

"Thank you." Aaron said officially. "Okay, roll story!" he hollered upwards. Everything went black as the story started.

"Ooh. Impressive." Ivan's sarcastic voice could be heard out of the blackness.

"Ivan. Shut up." Isaac's voice could be heard as well. "The story's starting."

"Oh. Sorry."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

It was after school, and Ivan managed to skate his way out of the building.

"Whew!" he gasped. "Who knew that school could be so difficult! I hope we're not stuck in this story too long! I don't know how they do it all the time!"

"Yeah, well, I don't think that evil masterminds trying to take over the school body and trying to turn them into droning slaves using a brainwashing program is an everyday event." Isaac told him from the PET. "Tomorrow'll probably be easier."

"Isaac. This is a video game. Nothing can be easy." Ivan told him.

"True." Isaac agreed.

"Including going home!" Ivan shuddered, peering down the street towards his house. "Do'ya think Lady Layana's waiting for us?"

"Mor'n likely." Isaac didn't really care. He was safe inside a computer, what could she do to him?

"I don't wanna go home!" Ivan whimpered.

"Hey, maybe you don't have to!" Isaac said thoughtfully. "Remember what Echo, er, I mean Miss Kazul said? That Metroline thingamabobber opens today!"

"Oh, yeah!" Ivan remembered. "That 'train' thing!" He frowned at the PET. "But we'd be butchered for sure if we run off without telling Lady Layana!"

"Surely she wouldn't object to visiting your Master Hammet!" Isaac said cheerfully. "If I recall correctly, he's in a place called the Science Lab."

"Yeah!" Ivan was excited. "Good idea, Isaac!" He turned around. "Off to the Metroline thingamabobber!"

It didn't take Ivan long to skate to the stairwell that lead to the underground station.

"Careful of the stairs!" Isaac warned him.

"Huh?" Ivan glanced down at the PET.

"We hafta go down the stairs up ahead and you're still in skate mode." Isaac told him. "I have no desire to end up screen down on the floor again."

"Don't worry!" Ivan snorted. "I've got these skate things down pat! All I need to do is stop, and... uh-oh! Whoa! Oof! Ow!"

Ivan's skate hit a small rock, and he lost control and ended up tumbling down the metroline steps. "Ow!" he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"I say, are you all right?"

"Huh?" Ivan glanced up to see that he had landed at the feet of an official looking man. "Um, yeah, I'm fine!" he said somewhat sheepishly. He took the hand the officer offered to him and scrambled to his feet.

"Hello!" Isaac said in a muffled voice, once again screen down. "Somebody pick me up! Ivan, you klutz, I warned you! The PET screen better not have scratched on the pavement here!"

"Sheesh, don't fry a circuit, Isaac!" Ivan scolded him, picking up the PET and looking at the irate navi on the screen. He then turned to the Metroline Official. "Um, we'd like a ticket for the Science Lab, please."

"Ah, yes. You're here for the opening day as well, eh?" the Official said sadly. "Well, I'm afraid there's been a delay. You see, there was a landslide, and we can't run! The whole train system is run by computer. When there's an accident, the safety program should stop the trains, but the program was hit with a virus! It doesn't look like anyone broke into the control room, So we think that someone got in through the net."

Ivan sighed. "What did I say? Nothing can be easy!"

Isaac nodded on the PET screen. "Well, at least it's rather easy to figure out what we need to do next. You need to send me on the Net, and I hafta find the one responsible for this and make him eat dirt."

Ivan nodded. "Yeah. Let's head home and use my computer." He turned to the stairs.

"Skates off! Skates off!" Isaac said nervously.

Ivan rolled his eyes, but reached down and pressed the button that changed his shoes from skates to tennis shoes.

Once they got home, Ivan peered through the doorway, saw Lady Layana sitting on the couch, watching soaps, and relaxed. "Heh. Bless those soap operas!" he said thankfully.

"Huh?" Isaac asked, confused.

"They distract her." Ivan explained. "See, watch!"

He walked in the house and strolled towards the stairs. "Hi, Lady Layana!" he greeted her as he walked. "We were going to take the Metroline thingamabobber to see Master Hammet, but it turns out that a hostile virus has taken it over, so me and Isaac are going to go find it and beat it up. Is that okay?"

"Well, that's nice." Lady Layana answered absently, her eyes glued to the TV set. "Have a nice time, dear."

"We will!" Ivan said cheerfully, heading upstairs to his room.

"Wow!" Isaac said. "It was like she wasn't even aware that we were there!"

Ivan nodded. "Yeah. I think she's going to have a hard time when we're finally done with this story and hafta leave."

"I, for one, can't wait to get out of this stupid computer." Isaac grumbled.

"No, Cynthia, you foolish woman!" Lady Layana could be heard yelling at the TV downstairs. "Can't you see that Erik is just using you! Darren is the one that really loves you!"

"Alright, well, shall we repair the Net?" Ivan asked.

"Fine!" Isaac sighed.

Ivan plugged the PET into his computer. "Alright, Isaac.EXE, Transmit!"

In a moment, Isaac found himself back on the Net. He stretched, then started walking. "Okay! Now then, to find the Metroline in this maze."

"Maybe we should ask somebody for directions." Ivan suggested.

"I don't need directions!" Isaac snorted. "I led you guys all over Weyard and I didn't stop for directions, did I?"

"Well, this isn't Weyard, is it, Oh Fearless Leader!" Ivan said sarcastically. "Besides, who was it that had to follow a green monkey through the Mongol Forest so he wouldn't get lost?"

"Hey, that doesn't count!" Isaac protested. "That was a cursed forest!"

"Yeah, well, somehow I don't think there's going to be a green monkey here, so you're going to hafta ask. Otherwise it'll take forever for you to find the Metroline!"

"Your faith in my abilities touches me." Isaac snorted sarcastically. "Don't worry, I'll find my way!"

One hour later...

"Okay, well, that green navi said that you turn south here, and this path should lead to the Metroline."

"I can't believe you made me stop and ask for directions!" Isaac muttered, sulking as he walked.

"Well, it was obvious that you weren't finding it!" Ivan told him. "And we need to get moving!"

"What this place needs is roadsigns." Isaac grumbled. "Really big roadsigns, preferably in bright neon colors."

"Turn left here." Ivan told him, glancing at the notes written before him on the desk.

Isaac did so, grumbling, then stopped. "Um, can't. There's a security block in front of us."

"What!" Ivan asked. "But there can't be! This is the only way to the Metroline!"

Isaac shrugged and poked the security block with the Sol Blade.

"Dex's PC! Get out! This means YOU!" a polite female voice spoke out with the pre-recorded message.

"This is Jenna's?" Isaac asked, eyebrow raised.

"Wouldn't that be illegal?" Ivan wondered. "It could cause a lot of trouble if people just plopped roadblocks on any major road that they wished."

"Well, guess we don't have any other choice but to go ask her to get through." Ivan said. "Might as well jack out."

Isaac nodded, and in a few seconds, found himself back in the PET.

"Off to Jenna's house!" Ivan said cheerfully.

Ivan and Isaac went out the door past Lady Layana, (who was clutching a box of Kleenex because it was at the scene where not only is Alan dying, but he finds out that Alina was his long-lost twin sister,) and, after a few minutes of skating along the streets of ACDC town, arrived at Jenna's house.

"Well, let's see if she's home." Ivan said, pausing to knock on the door. After a few minutes, Jenna opened it up. "Oh, hey Ivan! How's it going?"

"Hi Jenna!" Ivan greeted her. "It's going alright, I suppose. We stopped by 'cause we need to get past your security block on the Net."

"Ah." Jenna nodded. "Well, seeing as you're probably saving the world and all that, let me go get the access codes for you. I don't think that's a problem."

Suddenly there was a 'poink' and a small rock appeared above Jenna and crashed down on the top of her head, bouncing off and tumbling to the floor.

"Ow! Jenna yelped, and glared at the rock, rubbing her head. "What the heck!"

"Look, there's a note on it!" Ivan commented, picking up the rock.

"Well, read it!" Isaac said impatiently.

"Oh! Um, okay, here goes!" Ivan cleared his throat and read the note. "'Dear Jenna, Yes, just giving Ivan the code is a problem. You need to follow script. Your author, Echo.' Oh, phooey."he said in disgust.

"So, what do we need to do?" Garet asked from his PET.

"Well, first off, find that author of ours and set her ponytail on fire for throwing rocks at me!" Jenna growled, rubbing her head.

"You can do that later, Jenna." Isaac said absently. "What now?"

Jenna whipped out her script and read through it. "Well, first, you two hafta find me a Recover50 chip."

Ivan frowned, then glanced in his bag of unused battle chips. "'Fraid I don't have one of those."

"You mean we're going to have to go around and find one?" Isaac asked in disbelief. "Do you realize how long that could take!"

Ivan pulled out a few chips. "Hey, I do have five Recover10's, though. Can I just give you those instead? We don't use them, 'cause Isaac just uses 'Cure'."

Jenna thought a moment, then nodded. "Heh, why not?" She took the chips, then turned back to her script. "Okay, next, apparently I challenge you to a Net Battle."

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "Which means...?"

Jenna glanced over the script. "Um, I think it means that we make Isaac and Garet fight."

"WHAT!" Isaac and Garet exclaimed together.

"Well, you two do fight often together when practicing." Ivan pointed out. "Think of it like that."

"But I don't wanna fight Isaac!" Garet whined.

"Ah, quit whining, Garet!" Jenna told him. "Now, how do we do this?"

"Um, well, I think if we hook our PETs together like so..." Ivan put their PETs together.

"Whoa! Hey!" There was a startled protest from both PETs, and Isaac and Garet suddenly found themselves staring at each other over a battle grid.

"Hey!" Garet protested. "Don't I get any say in this! Isaac's the main character of this story, so that means he's going to win! And I definitely don't want Isaac deleting me!"

"And, as annoying as Garet can be, I really don't want to delete him." Isaac agreed.

"I think it's okay." Jenna encouraged him. "I have a back-up, so it wouldn't be permanent or anything. And, as annoying as Echo is, I don't think she'd really let any of us die permenantly."

Garet whimpered "As if that helps."

"Sorry, but our author said!" Ivan told him. "Now, if we want to fix the Metroline, we need to do this!"

"Wait a minute!" Isaac suddenly grinned, looking at Garet.

"What?" Garet said suspiciously.

"Did Echo specify how we were supposed to fight?" he asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" Jenna asked. She glanced down at her note. "She just said that I needed to challenge you guys. Why?"

"So she didn't specifically say I had to physically fight Garet, right?"

Garet looked hopeful. "No, she didn't."

Isaac grinned and cracked his knuckles. "I have an idea. Alrighty, then, Garet! Prepare to be defeated!"

-

Afterwards, as Isaac jacked back into the PET, Ivan grumbled."I really don't think that counted as a battle, guys!"

"Oh, come on!" Jenna rolled her eyes. "Did you want to see Garet get deleted!"

"I still say that Isaac cheated." Garet grumbled, now safely back in his PET as well.

"At Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Isaac scoffed. "How? You're just sore because you lost!"

"Hey, you had a mind-reader on your side! I'm sure you could've figured out some way to use that to your advantage." Garet still wasn't convinced.

"I don't need a mind-reader." Isaac rolled his eyes. "You always choose scissors. Everybody knows that!"

"Well, anyways!" Ivan said loudly, interrupting the fight. "If you'll give us the password now, Jenna, we'll go fix the Metroline thingy."

"Sure!" Jenna scribbled down the number on a scrap of paper and gave it to him.

"Thanks!" Ivan said cheerfully. "Now let's go, Isaac!"

It didn't take them all that long to skate back to Ivan's house, walk past the teary Lady Layana surrounded in her Kleenex fortress, and back on the Net. And, now that they actually knew the way, Isaac only got lost twice on the way down. They used Jenna's password to get past the security block, and wandered only a short ways before running into a large, hulking navi made of stone standing in front of the Metroline security center.

"Er, what is that?" Isaac studied it dubiously. "Is it even alive?"

"Gok...GokGok." It suddenly squawked at him.

"What?" Ivan asked, puzzled.

"Hang on. This PET thing has a translator. Give me a moment, and I'll get it running." Isaac said. "Er, he said, 'Out of my way...'"

Ivan looked thoughtful. "Maybe it's one of those pokemon things? Y'know, that speak complex languages comprised of only their name?"

"So, this is Gok. Got it." Isaac said. He turned to the stone navi. "So, Gok, tell me. What do you think you're doing?"

"GokGok!"

"'Blocking the Metroline system.'" Isaac translated.

"Gok.."

"'So the Metroline won't open.'"

"So we figured." Ivan said dryly. "Now then, is there a reason Gok wants to prevent this?"

"Gokgok Gokgok!"

"To control the Net." Isaac continued to translate.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Ivan protested. "You mean to tell me that it takes a whole four 'gok's' to say 'to control the Net', but only one of them to say 'So the Metroline won't open'! This language thing doesn't make any sense!"

"Hey, never underestimate the power of pokemon talk." Isaac said sagely.

The stone navi looked angry and raised a fist menacingly. "Gok!"

"See?" Isaac said, as if that proved it. "With that single 'Gok', he's managed to say, 'StoneMan must delete all programs that interfere...'"

"Hey, I thought his name was Gok, not Stoneman!" Ivan looked confused.

Isaac shrugged. "Perhaps the WWW renamed him. It sounds right up their alley. I mean, Fireman and Numberman? They're obviously not the sharpest tack in the box."

"Poor Gok. They probably found him in the wild and captured him with one of those pokeballs and forced that horrible name on him." Ivan said sympathetically.

"Well, we could always call him Gokman." Isaac suggested. "It's better then Stoneman, at any rate."

"Sounds good. Um, Gokman looks angry." Ivan observed.

"Probably because he's been trying to fight us, and he can't until we get warped to the battle grid, which won't come until we stop talking." Isaac commented.

"Gok Gokgok!" Stoneman glared at him.

"Okay, now that's crossing the line!" Isaac glared at him, suddenly riled up."If you want to be insulting, fine. But you're going down!"

The world warped around them, and soon Isaac and Stoneman were staring at each other over a battle grid.

Isaac grinned. "Oh, say, Gokman. Did I happen to mention that I'm a Venus Adept? My specialty is rocks. And you, my friend, are a rock." His hands glowed with psyenergy.

Ivan watch the PET screen for a few minutes, then winced. "Ouch. That battle didn't last long."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

In case you didn't catch it, Gokm... I mean Stoneman was defeated. I mean, really, he's a big rock, and Isaac is a Venus Adept. That, and I found him to be rediculously easy in the game. And sorry if this chapter wasn't as funny as the others. I didn't think so, but maybe that's because 3/4ths of it's been sitting on my computer for I don't know how long, and reading it over constantly, the jokes get a little stale.

Anywho, sorry about the long update, but now that I've finally finished moving, have internet again, all we hafta deal with is my laziness!


	9. Where Did the Water Go? Part 1

"So, where do you think we should start looking for the culprit?" Mia asked thoughtfully.

"Well, anybody who's intentionally put an author on a sugar high has to be pretty twisted." Isaac pointed out. "Especially our author."

"Waaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiittttttt!" Megan came running up, huffing and puffing.

"Hey, Megan!" Aaron chirped happily.

"Oh, great. Now what?" Ivan grumbled.

"Investigation hasta be put on hold. Sorry." Megan caught her breath, and stood up. "I've got a very, very important message!"

"Yeah, right." Sheba grumbled.

"So, what's the message, Megan?" Mia asked her.

"Well, apparently the author known as EchoKazul is currently too busy to work on all the stories she's got started." Megan started.

"Slacker." Isaac scoffed.

Megan ignored him. "And so she's decided to stop and just take one story at a time. So she's going to update all her stories at once, and whatever one gets the most reviews gets continued until it's finished."

"So... this story might be put on hold?" Picard asked, surprised.

"If another story gets more reviews, yes." Megan nodded. "EchoKazul would concentrate on just that one instead of all of them at once."

"Whoo-hoo!" Isaac cheered. "Vacation!"

"Wait, would it really, Isaac?" Ivan pointed out. "We're in all the stories, so we'd just be working in another story, only we don't get to complain about them in an author skit like this one."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that." Isaac sighed.

"Confusing, isn't it?" Sheba commented. "We're here, yet working in other stories at the same time."

"Enough to give one a headache." Ivan agreed.

"So if the reader really wants this particular fic to continue and not be put on hold, they ought to review for it." Megan continued. "If they want either her quality novelization, The Book of Golden Sun, or her other semi-original-but-not-really plot, The Warrior of Sol, to thrive, review them."

"And if they can't make up their minds, review all three! Brilliant!" Aaron said happily.

Picard sighed. "So I guess the 'Who Gave The Authoress Candy' mystery is put on hold until later?"

Megan gave him a look. "Well, yeah. If we started it now, this author skit would be longer then the actual story!"

"Speaking of which, we'd better get it started!" Aaron nodded. "As Spokesman for the Blue Scrunchy, I nominate myself to save time and grumbling. EchoKazul doesn't own Golden Sun or Megaman Battle Network. So there."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, that was a complete waste of time." Ivan grumbled, slouched over his desk back at home. "We go through all that trouble of getting the Metroline thingy back up and running, go all the way to the lab, and Master Hammet wasn't even there."

"I know. I was with you, remember?" Isaac reminded him.

"And to make things worse, by the time we got back, daytime TV was done and Layana chewed me out and now I hafta sit up here and do..." he shuddered, "...homework!"

"I _know_!" Isaac was getting annoyed. "I was with!"

Suddenly everything started to slowly darken, leaving them in pitch blackness.

"Ack! What's happening?" Ivan's voice panicked in the darkness.

"Power out!" Isaac whimpered. "What if the back up batteries in the PET die? I'm toast!"

Echo's voice sounded through the darkness, sounding mysterious.

"One month has passed since the "School-jacking" incident. WWW net

crime grows worse, and the damage more serious daily! Peace didn't last long in

the town of ACDC..."

"Oh." Isaac sounded much calmer now. "It's just our crazy author doing that 'Plot Exposition' thing."

"Hey!" Echo's voice didn't sound so mysterious when it was indignant. "Would you rather wait the entire month?"

"Er, no thanks. I'm good!" Isaac hurriedly told her.

"Say, Echo? How do you do that voice thing?" Ivan wondered. "Do you have a microphone or something?"

"Actually, no. I'm right here in the room." Echo admitted. "It's just too dark to see me. See? Here I am."

"Ack!" Ivan yelped, and a crash was heard as he fell backwards in the darkness. "Don't poke me like that!"

"Sorry." Echo apologized. She coughed. "Anywho, onto the next storyline..."

There was the noise of somebody typing on a keyboard.

"Um, Ivan?" Isaac asked nervously. "You're not fiddling around with the computer, are you?"

"No..."

"She's using her laptop!" Isaac yelped. "Pick me up and run!"

"I can't find the PET!" Ivan yelped back. "It's too dark!"

"There!" Echo said smugly, giving one final satisfied click.

The lights came back on.

"And I'm back on the dresser." Isaac grumbled. "What I am, a piece of furniture?"

"Hey! How'd I get in bed?" Ivan wondered, sitting up in his pajamas. "And where did Echo go?"

"Presumably to wherever she's hanging out in this story." Isaac said.

Ivan glanced at his page-a-day calendar on the bedside and let out a cheer. "Whoo-hoo! It's Saturday! That means no school!"

"Actually, yeah, there is. Apparently you've got weekend classes." Isaac told him.

Ivan blinked. "Weekend classes? Since when?"

"Listen, I don't make up your schedule, alright? I just read it off as it's given to me!" Isaac said irritably.

"You mean I still have to go to school, even though it's Saturday?" Ivan said skeptically.

"Yes." Isaac sighed.

"Man, talk about killing the childhood!" Ivan growled, unhappily getting out of bed.

After getting dressed, he grabbed Isaac off the dressed and hurried downstairs.

"Oh... Ivan... Good morning..." Lady Layana was sitting slouched on the couch.

"Good morning." Ivan answered, looking at her curiously. "You're not sick, are you?"

"No, it's just that the water's off, so I can't make breakfast this morning. Sorry."

"What! But... I actually got up on time this morning! I'm hungry! And thirsty!"

"Well, it's not like there's much she can do about it with no water." Isaac pointed out.

"Like you need to worry! You're a computer program!" Ivan complained. "Not only do I hafta go to school on my day off, but I don't get any breakfast either. This day is fast going down hill."

"Ivan!" Sheba was waiting for him outside.

Ivan brightened up and hurried outside. "Sheba! Hi! You wouldn't believe the crummy morning I've had!"

"You too?' Sheba frowned. "First I wake up and Mia tells me I have weekend classes, then, to top it off, there's no water!"

"Finally, somebody who understands me!" Ivan nodded in appreciation.

"Oi." Isaac grunted.

"Don't worry, you two." Mia said from her PET. "There'll probably be water at school."

"I hope so." Sheba complained. "I couldn't even wash my face this morning."

They walked the short few blocks to school, and paused when they saw that even the fountain in front of the school was dried up.

"Hmm..." Ivan frowned. "Maybe water's out in the whole neighborhood?"

"Cheap plumbing system." Sheba sniffed.

"C'mon, let's see if anybody else has water." Ivan offered, heading into the school.

"Ivan! Sheba! There you are!" Feizhi greeted them as the walked into the classroom. "Did you hear? A kid's gone missing in the other class!"

"What?" Ivan frowned. "Oh, great. First the water's gone missing, then now this kid. Why do I get the feeling that the solution has to do with me and Isaac running all around?"

"I agree with Ivan here." Isaac agreed. "This bites."

"Alright, class." Echo walked into the room. "I'd like to begin homeroo..."

"Echo!" Jenna exploded. "There you are! Do you want to explain this whole water shortage?"

"Er, yes, I was just getting to that." Echo glared at her disapprovingly. "And the name's Miss Kazul, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, whatever. Stupid authors." Jenna grumbled, sitting down.

"Now, as you've probably noticed, the town's water supply has stopped."

"What?" Ivan protested. "The entire town!" He glared at her. "You just had to put all the Mercury Adepts in computers, didn't you?"

Miss Kazul ignored him. "As we don't know what the problem is, we don't know when it's going to be fixed. Thus..." she paused dramatically, looking around. "I'm going to cancel class for today."

"Whoo-hoo!" Ivan cheered.

"Just make sure not to run around too much." Echo reminded them. "You'll just get thirsty."

"Yeah, whatever! I can do that." Ivan said happily. "C'mon, Isaac! Let's go home and spend the rest of the day playing video games on the Net!"

Echo caught him by the ear before he could get out the door. "Ivan, don't you and Isaac think you should try and find out what's going on?"

"Ow! Why?" Ivan managed to pull his ear free from Echo's grip. "It's none of our business."

"Yeah, that's what they pay the waterworks employees for." Isaac pointed out. "I mean, what would happen if elementary students flooded the public utilities everytime they had a problem?"

"Guys..." Echo growled warningly.

"Stupid authors." Ivan grumbled, getting off the Metroline at the Waterworks station.

"Yeah, well, we should've seen this coming." Isaac sighed.

Ivan glanced up at the giant, shiny building. "Say, that's the same building that Master Hammet works in."

"Yeah." Isaac glanced at the files he had stored in the PET. "He works in the Science lab, which is in the west wing. The Water Works is in the eastern wing.

"Ah. Well, let's go." Ivan nodded, and headed inside.

Once they had stepped through the door, the first thing that Ivan noticed was that there was a rather roguish looking guy talking to the lady at the counter.

"...And so a check of the Water Works system is needed." the dashing looking man was telling the secretary.

"I see." the secretary nodded. "I understand you're an official netbattler? Can I see your ID, please?"

"Sure thing, babe!" the man said happily, giving her his ID card. "Say, are you doing anything after work tonight, sweetie?"

"Pardon?" the secretary looked startled.

"Hey, Isaac?" Ivan held up the PET so that Isaac could see. "Do you recognize that guy?"

Isaac frowned from the PET screen. "Nope. But I seriously doubt that he's from around here. He looks like a pirate."

"Ah! There you two are!" the rogue noticed them. He turned away from the rather startled secretary and walked over to them. "Took you long enough! And ha! Look at this!" he held out his netbattler ID card proudly. "I'm an official netbattler, and you're not! Ha-ha!"

"Um, who are you again?" Ivan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Briggs. Heard a lot about you." the man shook Ivan's hand.

"Briggs?" Ivan asked, confused. It didn't ring a bell.

"Yes, the scourge of the seas, the terror of the ocean! I'm a feared pirate!" Briggs said proudly.

"Heh, I thought so." Isaac commented.

"Briggs... sounds familiar..." Ivan looked thoughtful, then snapped his fingers. "Aha! I remember now! You're the one that Felix and the others beat up and got the piece of the trident from! Back before we joined back up with them!"

"You mean the pirate who hid behind his grandmother?" Isaac sounded amused.

"Shut up!" Briggs grumbled. "And if you knew my grandma, you'd hide too. She's an ex-spy and has mastered four types of martial arts, I'll have you know."

"Yeah, whatever." a familiar voice from Brigg's PET spoke up. "You keep telling yourself that."

"Felix!" Ivan sounded surprised. "It's you!"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. He's my Navi." Briggs brought the PET around so they could see him.

Felix, predictably, did not look too happy. "Hi, guys. Apparently, I'm somebody named Protoman, and the clown here is supposed to be a 'Load Chaud'."

"That's Eugene Chaud, if you don't mind." Briggs sniffed. "And I'll have you know that Chaud is a very cool character, and one of Echo's favorites."

"Then how did you get the job?" Ivan wondered.

"Hey, I'm cool!" Briggs retorted. "And it so happens that Echo thinks so too!"

"That, and she couldn't think of anybody else." Felix commented. "She was thinking of Hsu for a while, but figured that Chaud's fanbase would kill her for that."

"Yeah..." Ivan blinked. "So... what are you two doing here?"

"We're official netbattlers!" Briggs said proudly. "That means we're kinda like Net Detectives. We investigate trouble wherever it may lurk, and soundly defeat it! We are the heros of the Net, the champions of the innocent programs, and..."

"Please shut up." Felix groaned. "I'm going to kill Echo."

"Yeah, well, get in line." Isaac grumbled.

"Yeah, so I guess you're here to investigate the water stoppage as well?" Ivan asked.

"Yep!" Briggs said proudly. "Only, _I'm_ getting paid for it. You're just doing it 'cause you're a chump."

"Oi, what did you call me?" Ivan growled. "Apparently, I have to investigate because obviously you're too incompetent to get the job done!"

"Ha! Watch! I'll get whoever's behind this before you do!" Briggs bragged.

Ivan snorted. "I already know who's behind this."

"What! Who? And how do you know!" Briggs demanded.

Ivan rolled his eyes. "As if I'd tell you. If you're not smart enough to know that there's only one criminal organization in this game, I can't help you."

"Why, you little pipsqueak!" Briggs growled.

"Hey, Felix. Wanna play 'I Spy'?" Isaac asked him, obviously bored.

"I would, only I'm stuck in a little computer, and probably can't see the same things you can." Felix sighed, not happy.

"You..." Briggs pointed at Ivan dramatically. "...are now my rival!"

"Ha! No way!" Ivan snorted. "In order to be my rival, you have to at least hope to be on my level. No contest there."

"Gah! Why you little...!" Briggs snarled, then took a deep breath. "C'mon, Felix. We've got grown-up things to do. We don't need to hang around with children."

"See ya, Felix!" Isaac called out after him.

"I've decided that I really don't like Briggs." Ivan muttered.

"Well, we've obviously got better things to do then worry about him." Isaac reminded him. "C'mon, let's go see the guys in charge of the water works and get their tushies going on fixing the problem."

"Fine." Ivan sighed, then walked over to the desk to talk to the secretary. He had to stand on his tiptoes to see over the counter. "Excuse me, ma'am."

"May I help you, little boy?" the secretary noticed him.

"Little boy!" Ivan was insulted. "I'll have you know that I'm a high level Jupiter Adept and one of the heroes of Weyard!"

The secretary blinked at him, then smiled sweetly and patted him on the head. "Of course you are." she said patronizingly.

Ivan sighed. "Look, we need to get to the water works."

The secretary shook her head. "I'm sorry, but you need an ID card to work the elevator. Why don't you go home and play instead. There's nothing interesting there for you."

"Yeah, whatever." Ivan grumbled, turning away from the counter. He looked down at his PET. "So, now what?"

Isaac was amused. "Go see if the nice lady has a piece of candy for you?" he suggested.

"If you were out here, you'd meet a nice Shine Plasma." Ivan warned him.

"But I'm not, am I?" Isaac said a little too cheerfully. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Say, why not head over to the Science Lab and see if Hammet's in. I bet he could help you."

"Ah! Good idea!" Ivan nodded. He reached down to switch his shoes into skate mode, then headed over to Master Hammet's lab.

"And he's not here. Again." Ivan frowned, looking around.

"Well, so much for that idea." Isaac sighed.

"Wait! His lab coat is still here." Ivan noticed.

Isaac gave him a look. "Ivan, nobody's going to buy you disguising yourself as Hammet. You're too short."

"Shut up. And I meant his ID card is on it, see?" Ivan unpinned the ID card on the front pocket.

"You're going to swipe Master Hammet's ID card?" Isaac asked skeptically.

"I believe the term we're looking for is 'borrowing'" Ivan said dryly, pocketing the card.

"Yeah, whatever." Isaac grumbled.

Ivan and Isaac decided that it'd be best to wait until everybody went home before hacking into the water works. As Master Hammet seemed to be something of a slacker and never seemed to be in his office, they decided to camp out there.

Finally there was that cheerful bell noise, signaling the end of the work day.

"Finally." Ivan muttered, peering out of Hammet's office. "That was boring."

"Say, isn't Lady Layana going to be upset that not only did we not go to school, but we didn't go home either?" Isaac asked.

Ivan shrugged. "We'll just hope for the best and rely on those soaps to save us."

"So, is the coast clear?" Isaac asked. "Can we go take care of the water problem yet?"

"Looks like it." Ivan shrugged. "Let's get going."

Hoofing it on over to the Water Works section of the building, Ivan used the ID card he 'borrowed' from Master Hammet to use the elevator, and they headed over to the control room.

"Great. It's locked." Ivan frowned up at the reinforced door.

"Well, how am I supposed to fix the problem if I can't get into the Water Work's Net?" Isaac frowned.

"Hmm..." Ivan looked around thoughtfully, and noticed a water cooler in the hallway. A water cooler with a jack in port.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Isaac complained. "Why in Sol's name would a water cooler have access to the Net!"

Ivan shrugged, getting ready to plug his PET into the cooler. "Maybe for the Navis? I bet they get thirsty too!"

"Unfortunately, no we don't." Isaac grumbled. "We're computer programs, remember?"

"Quit whining." Ivan rolled his eyes. "It's not as I had anything to do with it. Okay, let's go! Isaac.exe, Trans..."

"Hold it, you little pipsqueak!" A voice interrupted him, stopping the transmission. Both he and Isaac paled.

"M-Menardi!" Ivan stuttered, taking a step back. "What are you doing here?"

Menardi sighed, rubbing her forehead with two fingers. "Actually, I've been wondering that too." She looked up and glared suspiciously at Ivan. "How about you? What are you doing here?"

"Um..." Ivan fished around for an answer. "I'm... lost."

"Lost?" Menardi raised an eyebrow.

Ivan nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! I was visiting Master Hammet, but I got lost."

"Indeed..." Menardi said suspiciously. "Well, for your good health, I'd suggest you'd get 'unlost'. Pronto." she glared at him.

"Yes'm." Ivan said meekly.

"Say, Menardi? Who's your Navi?" Isaac asked nervously. "It's not Karst, is it?"

"No it's not and don't you ever mention my Navi to me again!" Menardi snarled, furious.

"Why?" Isaac was confused. "Who is it?"

"Nobody we know." Menardi muttered. "Apparently, that stupid Echo decided to leave the stupid navi the way it was in the stupid game. It's the original navi."

"Well, forgive me for not wanting to see any of you guys deleted!" Echo suddenly appeared and huffed.

"You!" Menardi snarled, grabbing her scythe and charging her. "Die!"

"Eep!" Echo suddenly realized that popping in wasn't such a good idea, and took off running from the furious Proxian.

"Go get her, Menardi!" Isaac cheered.

Ivan looked at him strangely, then shook his head. "Okay, if you're finished cheering for the other side, can we get going?"

"Fine." Isaac sighed, and Ivan finished the transmission.

"Isaac.exe, transmit!"

Isaac felt himself pulled from Ivan's PET into the Waterworks Net, landed, and promptly slipped, landing ungracefully on his bottom.

"Hey!" he protested, rubbing his sore behind. "Everything's covered in ice!"

"So... this whole problem's just because they forgot to winterize their pipes?" Ivan asked skeptically.

"No, you cheeseball. It's not winter out." Isaac glared at him.

"Well, maybe there's an ice monster in there." Ivan pointed out. "Or an Ice program gone bad. That'd freeze everything."

"True." Isaac looked thoughtful. "I suppose I should go see if I can find something." He looked around at the ice-encrusted Net and whimpered. "First an oven, now a fridge. What will Echo make me do next?"

He began to inch carefully along the ice, trying not to slip again. He frowned. "Strange. I don't see any programs around."

"Maybe the ice creature ate them?" Ivan suggested.

"Maybe. Or perhaps... Whoa!" Isaac suddenly hit an extra slippery spot, lost his balance, and ended up falling and sliding down the patch of ice, slamming into and knocking over another navi on his way.

"Hey! Oof!" Felix yelped as Isaac slammed into him, carrying him along for the ride.

Finally they crashed to a halt at a dead end, and Isaac sat up, groaning. He noticed his fellow navi. "Oh, hi Felix. Sorry about that."

"S'okay." Felix grunted, scrambling up to his feet.

"Hey!" Brigg's voice sounded indignant. "Are you trying to sabotage our plans?"

"No, we're not!" Ivan sounded offended.

Isaac sighed and looked over to Felix. "How come we're stuck with them?"

"Believe me, I've been wondering that ever since I got here." Felix growled.

"So, find anything yet?" Isaac asked. "Maybe if we pool our resources..."

"Oh, no you don't!" Briggs scoffed. "Felix, don't tell them anything! They just want the glory to themselves!"

"They're the main characters of the game." Felix pointed out. "You know they'll actually be the ones to fix this, don't you?"

"Doesn't mean we can't try ourselves!" Briggs retorted. "C'mon, jack out. We're going to look someplace less crowded."

Felix sighed, but disappeared in a stream of data and was gone.

"Good riddance." Ivan sniffed. "Come on, let's go and get this fixed before they do!"

"This isn't a competition." Isaac sighed.

"Yes it is!" Ivan growled, then sighed. "That, and I'm really starting to get thirsty. Let's go."

After a little bit of wandering and a lot of slipping and sliding, Isaac finally found a bear-like virus freezing the controls in the Net.

"That's it! I'm putting this virus on ice!" Isaac growled, drawing the Sol Blade.

"Very 'cool' of you." Ivan joked.

"Heh. Hey, you! Freeze!" Isaac pointed the Sol Blade at the confused bear virus.

"Careful, he might think you're giving him the cold shoulder." Ivan teased.

"Yeah, I... Ack!"

Not waiting for Isaac to finish, the bear suddenly sent a giant ice cube whipping towards the Venus Adept, sending him scrambling out of the way.

"Now, that wasn't very ''ice'." Ivan frowned, still stuck in 'pun mode'.

"Yeah. And I'm this close to turning him into ice cubes." Isaac growled, scrambling up and clutching his Sol Blade tightly.

It turned out that the virus was surprisingly easy to defeat for a boss stage. It only took a few Ragnaroks and a Grand Gaia to bring the slow, oafish beast down.

"Whoo-hoo! We rock!" Ivan cheered as the beast disappeared in a flurry of data.

"_We_ rock?" Isaac said dryly, then looked around suspiciously as that computerized voice declared the 'Enemy Deleted'. "Who is that, anyway, and where is he hiding!"

"Ah, forget it." Ivan scoffed. "Let's jack out and go bask in the praise for getting the job done."

"Whatever." Isaac growled. "Once again, I'll probably get no credit."

They hurried out of the building, rode the Metroline back to ACDC town, and headed home. On the way, however, they had to pass the school, and Ivan paused as he noticed something.

"Hey..." he frowned.

"What?" Isaac inquired. "What's wrong?"

"Look!" Ivan held up the PET so that Isaac could see. "The school fountain... the water's... green... and scuzzy..."

Isaac wrinkled his nose. "Looks pretty gross. Glad I don't hafta drink it." He suddenly paused. "Hey, wait a minute. You're getting an e-mail."

"It's not more SPAM, is it?" Ivan frowned. "I can't believe you opened that last one. I'm scarred for life."

"Not my fault." Isaac growled. "I'm still getting used to this SPAM filter thing."

"Well, tell you what, you read it first. That was if it's scarring, it'll be you and not me." Ivan said dryly.

"Oh, haha." Isaac growled as he opened the e-mail and read it over. He gulped. "Uh-oh..."

"What? SPAM?" Ivan snorted. "Haha, serves you right!"

"No, it's not!" Isaac snapped. "It's from Briggs! Read it, it shows what a dummy you are!"

"What?" Ivan growled, turning the PET so he could read the e-mail on the screen. He gulped, and his eyes went wide. "Uh-oh..."

'Way to go, dummy! You've done it now! The real problem was in the water filter! Now all the water's polluted, and people all over are drinking it! This is all your fault! From, Chaud (Aka, me. Briggs.)'

"Great! We've let loose tainted water on the city." Isaac groaned. "A lot of people can get sick from this!"

Ivan gulped, but nodded. "No problem. We'll just go back and fix it."

"I thought that ice monster was too easy to be a boss." Isaac grumbled.

Ivan sighed. This was turning out more complicated then he thought.

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Whoo-hoo! Cliffy! Well, not really, if you've played the game.

So remember, all you lazy people that don't bother to read the author skit, if you don't want this story to be put on hold to make way for another one, review it!


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